


The Oasis

by desiallen16, Vivvy



Category: Original Work, The Walking Dead (TV), original character - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 17:58:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15668331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desiallen16/pseuds/desiallen16, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vivvy/pseuds/Vivvy
Summary: After the death of their guardian Rudy, Watcher, Sam, and Zombie journey to the Oasis in hopes of fulfilling Rudy’s last wish and finding a safe place to live and not be plagued by death every second of their lives, they soon discover that the zombies are the least of their worries.





	1. Prologue

"There is news of an outbreak in Atlanta, Georgia. The disease is said to kill the host within half an hour, then affecting the neurons of the brain, taking control of the newly diseased body." The news reporter's concerned voice rang out over the TV in the posh Texan home. Ashley and Mitchel West watched in amusement and poked fun at it. "It's like those old zombie horror movies." Mitch scoffed. Ashley had slightly more concern. "Yeah, sounds like." She said. Nikki, their oldest daughter, paid half minded attention as she tended to their younger child Chris. He was six, she was seventeen.  
"Zombies?" She asked. They didn't pay any attention to her, as always. She and Chris were both always ignored. The only time they got attention was when their parents were showing them off to their friends and using them for their own benefit. "How about we call Jessica and Mike to bring Samantha over and we wait out the storm?" Ashley proposed. Mitch nodded, picking up the phone. Nikki smiled and squatted down to Chris's height. "Hey guess what? Sam's coming over for a play date," she said. "It might last a couple days too."  
Chris's blue eyes lit up excitedly. "Really?" He squeaked. "Yes, really." Nikki insured. As Sam's family lived nothing but a couple houses down they walked there in no time, it was a rich suburban like town where you could almost walk to any destination. Sam ran to Chris and giggled, tapping his shoulder and saying "tag!" Before taking off to different destinations in the house. She was a year younger than him, but they'd been friends all their lives. Nikki never thought kids their age could even make friends yet, always believing it took a few years before they knew how to make friendships.  
Chris gasped and ran after her, to their parents' annoyance. Their parents got angry and banished them to go to the upstairs area and not come downstairs until they said so. The two kids were obviously upset at this, but they obliged and went upstairs. "That's unfair," Nikki spat angrily at Mitchell, who was the one to order the youngsters away. "Excuse me?" He said. The one time he'd pay any mind to her other than showing her off was when she was making him look bad. "You heard what I said." She snarled a lip at him and ran up the stairs to join the children so they weren't all alone.  
They could still hear everything being said downstairs, and things like this continued for a couple weeks. As the kids were sitting in the bedroom floor playing cars, Nikki listened to the tv downstairs. The walls were thin, so when the rest of the house was quiet it was easy to hear anything from anywhere in the place. "The outbreak has spread worldwide, taking almost three billion lives, that is nearly half of the world's population." The lady's voice said. She was a reporter, so she was attempting to keep calm, but even from the room Nikki could make out what was being said.  
"The government isn't going to take care of it like we thought," Mike said, looking out the window and seeing that the rest of the town was practically destroyed. Zombies were everywhere. "We're going to die, aren't we?" He said. At that, Nikki was done listening. "How about you two pick a movie from the shelf that we can watch together?" She prompted. The two looked up at her and nodded vigorously, running to the shelf in the hallway to search through the movies. The parents had bought enough kiddie movies to keep them occupied before. They chose Balto, which is good because that was her favorite growing up and she still watched it from time to time, and it wasn't something annoying like the damn Bee Movie. She laughed and sat them down on the bed, running and getting them each a bag of chips and some water from the kitchen, closing the door and turning it on.  
It kind of felt normal again. Just this one moment of them hanging out and watching a movie. But it didn't last long. Ashley had realized that the zombies were closing in, and she'd come to see if the kids were okay, one true act of kindness. When she saw they were all in one room watching a movie, she put a chair under the doorknob so that nothing could get in to them, and they couldn't get out. The kids didn't notice it, but Nikki did. She heard a loud clash from downstairs and several screams. The loud growling and snarling of something inhuman. After the first scream went off, that's when the kids noticed. "Nikki?? What was that?" Chris asked innocently. "I want you both to cover your ears and start singing your abcs as loudly as you can." She said, not wanting them to be traumatized by the sounds of their family being torn apart.  
As they began their song without questioning it, because the minds of kids were easily manipulated and she took advantage, she attempted to leave the room to see if they could find an escape- and she couldn't even get the door to budge. "Fuck." She said aloud, not meaning to curse in front of them, but it was a stressful situation. She couldn't help it. She doubted they even noticed because of their song. She struggled to open it for what felt like hours, but was really several days, but eventually stopped after hearing the clawing and banging on the door as the zombies attempted to break in. The chair was stable, and didn't collapse, even under their pressure. The kids were scared, but Nikki told them it was a game and that their parents were trying to scare them, so they shouldn't be scared. They all made the chips and water last as long as possible, but it wasn't enough. It lasted the scarcely for a week, and another week later they had grown severely ill. They were dehydrated and starving. The kids did nothing but sleep, Nikki was struggling to keep them alive. They were smaller, so they needed more care, so she had gotten almost nothing the first week when they had a little bit to live off of.  
She was giving up hope, realizing death was coming. She tried her best to make the children comfy, trying to help them. "I love you both, I'm so sorry." She said weakly. Her voice was hoarse and her throat was dry. Someone had heard her cry. She heard a weird sound of a chair scrapping against the floor outside the door and saw the doorknob twisting. She didn't know what to expect- a person or a zombie. But after a moment of hesitation on both ends, the door opened. Rudy Davis walked in, his gun aimed directly at her, as he thought she was one of the dead.  
"Dear lord, Nikki.." he said, in terror. He was an ex-cop turned school janitor from her school. "How long have you been here?" He saw the kids and quickly put his gun away, hoisting them into his arms. "Can you walk?" He asked. "I don't know.. yeah." She weakly and shakily stood up. She could walk, but it was hard. "Then come with me." He led them down the road to his house, which was excruciating for Nikki. Every step she took felt like she was stepping closer to death. "Just a little farther," he coaxed her. He wanted to carry her too, but couldn't risk slowing down. The kids couldn't last much longer.  
He kept them safe in his home for as long as he could, the zombies slowly closing in. It was funny to Nikki. He didn't call them zombies, he called the biters. As he was nursing them back to health with water, Gatorade, and whatever food he could find, he explained how he found them. "I was actually scavenging your house to see if I could find any food. But I found y'all instead. I saw the door with the chair and I was curious. Then I heard you say something... so I knew something was up. Figured it was biters inside until I heard your voice, Nikki."  
As he finished saying that, he saw a boy out the window being chased by biters. "Shit. Dumbass kid," he sighed, getting up. "I'll be back, stay here." By now they were all a little more healthy and could walk and talk again, and they nodded as he ran outside to help the boy. "You!" He yelled. "Come to me!" He ordered, and the teen ran to him and they ran inside. "You dumbass! Now they're gonna be tryna get in the place!" Rudy scolded. Nikki saw the boy and ran to him, throwing her arms around him. "Reed!" She said smiling. "Hey, baby," He said.  
Rudy scoffed, realizing he was the stupid boyfriend of hers. "Why are you here?" He asked. "You don't live here." "I came to see if Nikki was okay," he said, looking her over. "I'm glad you are." She smiled and kissed his cheek. "Same for you!" Rudy interrupted the meeting once more. "Did they bite you? Or scratch you?" He questioned. "No." Reed responded quietly, shaking his head. Rudy didn't really trust him, as he had already grown protective of the three. "Alright. Then you can stay." He looked out the window at the biters who had grown interest in the home. "We can stay until the kids are well enough to travel. It's not safe here anymore." Rudy explained, side eyeing Reed.  
Another week or so later they left, meeting Grim on their journey. Again, Rudy was skeptical of the man but chose to let him stay. Bad decision. They found a "safe zone", which was a cabin in the middle of nowhere, and they built fences around it. "You know, I think this could be the world's idea of giving us humans a redemption." Grim said, "like nature's natural selection. Anyone who can't contribute to society should die off," with those words he glanced at the kids, but only Rudy caught the glance. "I think it's an apocalypse. Not an 'if you can't help then you die.' Situation." He said. Reed shrugged. "I kind of follow Grim on that. I mean if you can't contribute then you do end up dead. I mean look, we've survived off of helping each other."  
Grim smiled. "I like this kid!" He laughed. Rudy shook his head. "So, What would you do if you were living and someone didn't contribute?" "Then they would be slowing me down, so I would kill them." Grim responded without hesitation. This pissed Rudy off. "That isn't any way to live. If you just go around killing everyone then the biters really will take over the world, there wouldn't be enough humans to fight back." "Look around you, man. The zombies already took over. There are hardly any humans left." He said, smirking. Reed nodded. "And if we could just get all of the competent people together and form one huge alliance, we could possibly beat the dead."  
Rudy shook his head angrily. "Still no way to go about life." Reed looked to Nikki to help him argue, but she simply shook her head. "Rudy's right. That is no way to go about life. Besides, babies and kids can't really contribute with anything at first," she said. "So we'd kill them," Grim smiled. "No." Nikki growled. "You wouldn't. Because they're the future. We need them for man kind to grow strong again." Grim glared at her, and glanced at the kids again. This time she caught the glance. "If you even think about hurting those two, I'll be the one to kill you." She turned to the kids. "Let's go in, alright?" She said. "Maybe find some soup. Are you hungry?" They both nodded and raced to the house.  
The children were doing well with the adjustment, they never complained about not having baths anymore, not having a huge variety to eat, or any tv to watch. They made due with what they had. Nikki was amazed at how well they'd been taking it. The only time they ever complained was when they were really hungry and they couldn't have any food at all. That night Rudy and the others came in to rest, and Chris took Sam's hand and went to Rudy, tugging on his pant leg. "Can we tell you something Rudy?" Chris asked quietly. "In secret?" Rudy, surprised, nodded. "Of course." He knelt down to their height. Chris whispered, "Reed told us we was useless and that we was slowing you down." He said. "Are we gonna get you killed?" Sam asked. Rudy looked at them for a second.  
They were five and six years old, they shouldn't even know what death was, or what it was to kill someone. Sadly they had to know about it this early even without this abuse, but Rudy was infuriated that Reed had started thrusting that upon them. "I want you two to go to your bedroom and sleep, okay?" He asked. "I'll handle it," "don't tell Nikki! She likes Reed." Chris ordered. "She'll be sad." That broke Rudy's heart even more. "Okay. I won't tell Nikki." He said. "Just go rest." The kids nodded and raced to their room to sleep. Rudy instantly found Reed and slammed him against the wall. "What the he'll do you think you're doing?" He snarled. "You told the kids that they were just slowing us down? You know what's slowing us down is the fact that you're putting that shit into their minds!" Grim came up behind him and tried to pry him off, and Rudy shoved him. "You know what? You can both leave. I tried to cooperate with you but you've gone too damn far. Leave." He ordered.  
Nikki came down the stairs excitedly and was smiling until she saw this confrontation. Grim sighed, glancing at her and going to the door. "Fine, we will leave, I don't want to do this right now." He said. Reed nodded, looking at Nikki. "Come with us, we can start something together." He said. Rudy looked at her and stepped between them to speak with her for a second. "I know you love him, Nikki, and you can go with him if that's what you want. But if you go, the kids are staying with me." She looked confused, and hurt. "Why? Why are they leaving?" She questioned. "Reed told the kids they were useless. That they were slowing us down." Rudy said.  
Nikki hid her hurt. She hid her anger behind a smile. "Excuse me, Rudy... but I have something to say." She gently pushed Rudy out of her way, and joined Reed, who was fooled by her smile. He thought she was joining them. She got chest to chest with him. "You made the righ-" she cut him off with a tight grab to his dick and a violent twist. He yelped loudly in pain and his knees started to give, but she held her grip. "If you show your face here again I'll kick your ass, but if you come near those children ever again, I will personally rip your dick off and shove it down your throat. Get out of my sight. NOW." She ordered.  
He stumbled backwards in pain, doubling over and holding his groin. Grim snickered for a second at his pain but led him out. She turned to Rudy and wanted to cry. "I'm pregnant with his child.. what do I do..?" She held her face in shame and looked at the ground. "I was so naive.." Rudy just pulled her in for a hug and held her tight. "You'll be alright, I promise. We can make it through this together. You made the right choice." He said with a proud smile.  
Several months go by without a trace of Reed or Grim, but they have heard about them, and apparently Grim was trying to build an army of his own. Just l me he was talking about during his stay. Rudy ignored it and figured they'd keep their distance for safety. Don't poke a sleeping bear with a stick. He began taking Chris and Sam out to train, letting Nikki stay and guard the house as she was heavily pregnant, and it would be hard for her to go through any training. He would take them out into a safe zone in the trees and train them to run and dodge things, to build traps for the biters, to escape and hide. He did some gun training but told them that that was a last resort, the sound drew biters closer.  
One day while he was training them and Nikki was home alone, Reed came back. "Nikki.." he said quietly upon seeing her belly. "You're pregnant?" He asked. She snarled. "Why are you here?" She asked. "I came to check on you. I missed you," He said, still staring. "Go. We don't need you here." She backed into the kitchen, preparing for a fight. She knew she was in no shape to fight, but she wouldn't go with him, and she wouldn't let him take what they had. She and the kids both needed it. Her baby needed it. "We have a doctor with the shepherds." He said. "He can help you give birth and make sure the baby is okay." "I don't need a doctor, I can do it by myself."  
"What if it dies? What if it's dead already?" He questioned. "What if it turned inside you and is slowly killing you?" He planted these questions in her head. "It isn't a biter. You can only get infected through bites. It's not like in the comic books." She snarled. He realized it was useless to try and talk her into coming with him. But he did realize that if he had the kid, he could train it in his image, and it would carry on his legacy. So he slowly walked towards her. "Please, Nikki," he said. She grabbed a kitchen knife and held it facing him. "I'll kill you. Leave."  
He smirked. She had no training. She couldn't do anything, she didn't know how. "Go ahead, come after me." He said. Dodge, taunt, beat. Wash, rinse, repeat. He was taunting her, trying to get her to attack him. "Come on Nikki. If you're gonna stab me do it, if not the kids will come in and see you threatening me, or see you stabbing me." She wasn't falling for it. When she refused, he rushed her. He racked her to the ground and he screamed, trying to kick him off. She'd lost the knife when she fell. He punched her directly in the nose, breaking it. She screamed again in pain, the adrenaline forcing her to move fast. She threw him off with all her might and rolled to her hands and knees, stumbling to her feet and trying to find the knife. "Shit!" She screamed as Reed grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked her back.  
He threw her to the ground and straddled her, pulling her shirt up above her belly and to her bra. He smirked, reaching over and grabbing the knife that had been flung under the kitchen table. He pressed its tip to her delicate skin and began to cut, letting a stream of blood spill out. Rudy was walking the kids back to the cabin when he heard her ear piercing screams. "Run to the house and go to your room as soon as we get there!" He ordered as he began running. He ran as fast as he could, the little ones falling behind. But he knew they were safe. When he got in the house it was too late. Reed had slit the poor girl's stomach open and removed the child. Rudy ran to her aid first.  
"He has the baby.. find him.. save him.." she begged. She was still awake, still alert. But the scene was gruesome. Her stomach had been sliced and her organs were strewn about, blood soaking the cabin floor. He knew there was nothing he could do to help her, so he followed her order and chased down Reed, shooting his gun and hitting him in the calf. The man collapsed, twisting before hitting the ground so the infant on his chest was fine. Rudy could hear it screaming. That was a good sign that it was still alive, but it was going to draw biters. As Rudy ran, he saw the man abandon the child and book it.  
It would have been too hard for him to carry a screaming child, drawing biters to himself, while being temporarily crippled. Rudy let him go, grabbing up the tiny infant and running back to the cabin. The kids were with Nikki. They were both crying but Nikki had an eerie calmness about her. "Rudy.. can you bring me my baby?" She asked weakly. He nodded, going and kneeling by her side. Via the training, Chris had known to elevate her head, so he had her head resting in his lap while Sam sat by her side. Rudy sat on her other side and rested the baby on her chest, and she held him. "He's so small.." she said weakly, her eyes swelling with tears. "His name will be.. Cameron.." she smiled up at Rudy? Then down at the baby, who had stopped screaming and was now asleep. "Make sure he knows that I loved him.. and that I wish I could have been here with him.. okay?" She said up to Rudy. Then to Chris, reaching up and letting his cheek gently, wiping his tears away. "And you.. watch over him and make sure he grows strong and healthy like you.. okay? For me.. I love you and Sammy both." She promised. Chris sniffled, nodding a little. Even at his age he understood what was happening perfectly. He knew she was dying.  
Then she looked back at Rudy. She was happy, she was ready. She'd gotten to tell them she loved them, she got to hold her son, and she knew he would be safe. She just hated that she couldn't be with him in this god forsaken world. "Rudy.. I'm not gonna make it. It hurts. I need you to help me, please," she begged. He was heartbroken. He didn't want to kill her. But he knew it was mercy killing, and he had to stop her suffering. He nodded. "I love you as my own child, Nikki." He said softly, pulling out a blade. "Look away Chris. You too, Sam." He ordered, and they both did as told. Nikki made eye contact with him and gave him a tiny smile before he plunged the knife into the artery in her neck. She bled out instantly.


	2. Chapter 2

The ground was zooming past along with everything else in his wake as Cam ran full speed. He heard the barking growing closer behind him and picked up the speed. His lungs were screaming at him to stop as he'd been running for a while now, leading the pack of angry, hungry dogs. They nipped at him, but every time they thought they had him he'd pick up the speed again. "Decoy! Where are you?" A voice over his walkie talkie yelled at him. It was Chris- who went by Watcher. Cam had gone by Decoy as a name instead of Cameron for years. He hated his real name because the only person who called him Cameron was Reed. And he hated Reed.  
"Wait a second, I'm kind of busy!" He yelled back sarcastically into the walkie talkie. He was the fastest. He was the one who led their enemies to where they needed them to be. That's where he got his nickname of Decoy from. It was his job. As soon as he saw their outlines in the near distance, he screamed into the walkie talkie, "I'm here!" And then got closer, leaping as hard as he could at the last moment to try and get across the deep cement ravine. He almost didn't make it, but Watcher and Sam grabbed ahold of him and pulled him to safety as the pack of dogs all fell into the ravine on the count of not having enough time to react to it. If the fall didn't kill them, there was no way out of it. They would starve. They heard the injured barks and whines of the poor things.  
Decoy doubled over panting as sweat rolled down his face. "You did good, Decoy!" Sam exclaimed. "Thanks," He panted. "I do feel kind of bad for them." Watcher said looking down at them. "They're just trying to survive like us." "Yeah, but they have been trying to kill us for months." Sam reassured. She was right. "True." Watcher shrugged. Decoy finally caught his breath and stood upright. It never took him that long to catch his breath usually, but he was just getting over the flu. When he got sick, he got sick. He had never gotten vaccinated like Watcher and Sam had. But there was something wrong with his body that made it easier. His immune system would become completely immune to any illness after he'd already suffered through it.  
So he would be dying for a couple weeks of something, get over it, and then get it again but it was more like a sinus infection that went away within days. He'd never gotten the flu before, so he got it and now was feeling the after affects. Watcher pat his back. "We never have to worry about the damn things again," he said. "Now let's go back and rest." Sam and Decoy both nodded excitedly and started walking back to the cabin that they grew up in. They got home and decided to take a break. They'd spent all day on an outing to reap the dogs, and were tired. They didn't have any food or water, so they just kind of laid in the floor.  
"You know, it's unfair that you guys never get sick." Decoy complained. "I still feel like death. Everything hurts." "Well you'll get over it in a couple days and then you'll never get the flu again. I think that's unfair." Sam laughed. Watcher nodded. "Yeah. I think you're magic or something." "Nope. Just lucky." Decoy laughed. He'd grown to look more in favor of his father, the tan skin, brown eyes, and brown hair. He even had his thick lips. He did look a little like Watcher, who had brown hair, blue eyes, and light tan skin. Sam was completely different. She looked German, with blonde hair, pale skin, and blue eyes.  
They often made fun of her about it. Calling her a little German girl and making fake accents. Decoy has never really known about Germany, but he caught onto it after Watcher made fun of her enough. Sam started up conversation. "So," she began. "Do you guys believe in that mama story Rudy talks about?" She asked. "Meh." Watcher shrugged. "I mean there's probably some truth to it, yeah, but no bear can survive as much as he said she has." "I mean, do you really think that?" Decoy asked. "You talk about how the cities use to be full of living people, and I can't even imagine that. So anything is possible right?" He asked. Watcher looked at him. "Well. You're not necessarily wrong. But I mean, the way he described her. Giant, scars all over, half her face is gone. That don't sound too realistic." "Neither does cities full of living people." Sam looked at Decoy, admiring the fact that he had no idea how the world use to be.  
They heard Rudy return home and cut their conversation about the grizzly bear named Mama short, and went out to greet him. He often went on outings to scout out safe routes to take and find more food. "Guys, I have an idea, we have to go," "Why?" Decoy asked. "Because we are running out of food, and a huge hoard is headed this way so we won't be able to wait them out. We will starve." He explained.  
    "But if we get moving now we will be fine. There's an industrial town a couple miles out and if worse comes to worst we can take refuge there." He said with a shrug. Decoy nodded. "Alright, bags?" He asked. Rudy assigned them things to carry. "Watcher will carry what food and water we have and San will carry what weapons we have. There's not much else we have." They did as told and got their bags filled,  Watcher carrying several cans of soup and bottles of water, Sam carrying knives and guns. Decoy never carried anything because for one, he was the youngest and the weakest, and for two, He was the fastest, so if he needed to run to lure something away, he didn't need any heavy book bag on him slowing him down.  
   They headed out, out into the woods. Rudy led the way with a hand drawn map. "Where did you get that?" Watcher asked curiously. "Found it." Rudy said vaguely. Watcher had a knife out, ready to kill any biter they came across. But they didn't run into any, in fact, they ran into something much worse. Reed and his gang. Reed came from the Shepherds, which had been started by him and Grim years prior, but now they had a huge following. He always had Snow, B.A., Felix, and Trauma with him. They were people who'd joined the Shepherds. Reed smirked. "Long time no see, fellas, and lady." He said to Rudy and the now grown teens. He kept his eyes on Decoy. "Cameron, you look so grown up. Last time I saw you you was this big." He held his hand next to his waist. Decoy scoffed angrily.  
    "We can let you all live if you'll just join us. Or give us Cameron." Snow said. He was taller and more buff, with light blonde hair that was greasy and Unbrushed. Rudy held his ground. "I'd rather not," He said. B.A., who was more childish looking, like a preteen, looked like he watch itching to shoot that damn gun he had. "Come on now! We wouldn't wanna have to kill ya just yet. You may contribute to us," he said, jittering around like something was wrong in his head. For a second, Decoy considered that was it. That was what was wrong with these people, they were all just sick. But he knew better. They were just evil. They had bad views on how to rebuild society.  
    "I already told you, we don't want to take part in any of that. And you're not taking Decoy." "Decoy? Is that what you call my kid?" Reed said. "That ain't no name for a child." Decoy glanced around in an attempt to see if they were anywhere near the town, and they were. It was almost in sight, he could see the shaft of a factory. Rudy glanced in the direction Decoy was looking, and saw how close they were. He formed a small, frantic plan in his head. "Listen, just leave. We don't want to start any trouble." He tried to bargain. But nothing seemed to be working. Finally, he said "run." To the teens and they nodded and obliged, following his lead to the town. His plan was to get to the town and hide in one of the warehouses, wait them out.  
   They heard gunshots ring off, B.A. showing off his skills with his gun. The group all jumped and kind of panicked, speeding up. B.A. was obviously a bad shot, and he hit trees and rocks around them, which sent them into a panic. They eventually all made it to the town and ran into one of the warehouses frantically, only then realizing it was not as safe as they'd planned. It was infested with biters. They went to turn and exit, but now Reed was blocking it. "Now you choose death or me." He said, a shit eating grin slowly tearing across his face. Rudy decided to take his chances, ushering the teens farther into the warehouse. "These places always have more than one exit, we just have to find it," He said quickly, running around. "I see one," Decoy yelled, but it was surrounded by biters. "Shit. Try and distract them," Watcher said. "Just lure them away from the exit and come back to us as fast as you can." He nodded and got their attention by banging on a wall. There had to be ten or fifteen. They turned their attention to him. "Fresh meat! Come and get it!" He yelled, taking off. They all followed slowly. The place was huge. He ran as far and as fast as he could in the darkness, leading them all over the place. Once he thought he'd gotten them trapped, he ran back to the exit. He almost made it. Almost.  
   His leg gave out. Then and only then is when he realized that when B.A. started shooting, he'd been hit. The adrenaline and shock had to have kicked in almost instantly, as he never even realized he was hurt. His leg gave out and came out from below him, and he instantly dropped. "I'm hurt!" He cried as true fear set in. He was almost there. He could practically taste the outside air. He struggled to get up, but kept collapsing. And then, he felt it. The bite. A crawler grabbed onto his wounded leg and bitten deep into the fatty part of his calf.  
   He felt all the life drain from his body. "NO!" He screamed to the top of his lungs, kicking at it with his good leg and smashing its face in with the power of his kicks. "No no no!" He kept screaming. Watcher and Sam had realized something went terribly wrong and ran back in to get him, and when they saw the blood on his leg, at first they thought it was just a gunshot wound. They hoped it was just a gunshot wound. They pulled him to safety where Sam began trying to pick the lock to escape and Rudy closed the first set of sliding doors to the exit, as he saw more biters coming. "What happened?" He asked Decoy frantically, locking the door back.  
    Sam kept her focus on picking the lock. Decoy watched her, as that was his mind trying to escape the reality that he was bit. "It bit me.." he said quietly. "It.. it bit my leg.." Watcher went pale, looking down at him, as he was laying on the ground. Sam stopped picking the lock to look at him. "Dammit Sam keep working!" Watcher yelled. "You have to get it open." Rudy looked down at the boy. He watched this child grow up. He raised him ever sense the day of his birth. He looked at this boy as his own son. He was not losing him to a biter. "I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die.." Decoy started crying.  
    "You're not going to die, Decoy." Rudy said vacantly. He grabbed the machete from Sam's bag as she worked. He glanced back at the door, and saw it rattling as the biters tried to get through. He knew they didn't have much time left, he knew he wouldn't be able to stay with them. He knelt down next to Decoy. "This is going to hurt. I'm sorry." He closed his eyes tightly, fighting back the tears, knowing that this would be the last thing he would ever do for this boy. The last thing he would ever do for any of them, was to cut off this child's leg and permanently mutilate and disfigure him. It hurt him to think about how this would affect Decoy. About how Decoy would see him. About how Decoy would feel after this. And whack. He slammed the blade down right below Decoy's knee, sending blood splattering everywhere, and in the one forcefully swing he'd made it almost all the way through, but the bone stopped him. Decoy let out the most agonizing, blood curling scream you could imagine. With a couple more precise swings, Rudy managed to cut through the bone and all the way through the leg.  
    Decoy's right foreleg was completely severed, leaving a profusely bleeding stump. The boy tried to hold back his screams, curling up. "I'm so sorry, Decoy." Rudy grabbed the door and held it shut, as the lock was starting to give out. With the words he spoke, his eyes burned with tears that he couldn't let go. He didn't know how the kids would hold off without him, they'd never been on their own. He was worried that they wouldn't make it, that they wouldn't find safety. As he watched each of them work, he visualized watching them play together as kids. Watching Watcher and Sam play fight as Decoy giggled and watch, always wanting to sit in Rudy's lap or cuddle. He remembered hearing them giggling almost carelessly. "Hurry up, Sam!" Watcher screamed at her, terrified. Watcher then quickly hoisted up Decoy onto his back, piggy back style. The blood soaked his side, and it sickened him to think about it, so he tried zoning the true horror of the situation out. Rudy stared at Decoy for a minute, apologizing under his breath again. He saw Watcher and Decoy both as little kids again, Sam as a child being mischievous and picking the lock to a room she knew not to be in. Then it hit him, that time was going by. That Watcher and Sam had to know where to go. Where to take Decoy. Where to be safe. And he knew that he would no longer be there to lead them to that safety. So he began to explain. "Take the map from my pocket, Watcher. Take it and follow it to the Oasis. When I went out today I met a man who told me about it. It's a safe haven. You need to get there and you'll be safe." He explained with a shaky voice, and Watcher did as told, grabbing the map from his pocket. "You're gonna come with us though, right?" He asked hopefully, right as Sam finally got the door open and the three quickly ran outside. "Come on, Rudy!" Sam yelled happily, proud that she had finally gotten the lock undone. It was like time had slowed to a stop now. Rudy had that same calm that Nikki had right before she died. He watched the three bound outside to safety, giving him that bit of hope he needed to accept his death. He smiled, just a little, letting the tears finally fall. "You need to lock the door and go on without me. I love you all.. never forget that for me, Okay?" He said.  "I need you to get to the Oasis. Don't blame yourselves for this.." He tried to get everything out fast enough. He couldn't talk fast enough. But he was talking slowly. Calmly.  
    As he said it in his calm, almost fearless voice, the door slipped and a biter bit deeply into his shoulder, letting the blood spurt out and the muscle and tissue below the delicate skin become visible. Sam stood there, horrified for a split second as she watched, but closed the door as fast as she could so that Watcher and Decoy wouldn't have to see it. What was scary to Her, to Watcher, was that he didn't scream. They heard nothing but the moans of the biters. They didn't hear a single scream from Rudy. The man was holding back his death cries, knowing that it would scar the kids for life. Watcher got this horrified look. "Run, Watcher! We have to get him to the hospital, we can't lose him too!" She kept her calm in the situation as best as she could, but let herself slip just a little. She had to protect them. Both of them. She made a silent promise to Rudy that she wouldn't let anything else happen to them. They ran a couple warehouses down, leaving a trail of blood. Watcher was tiring out. "I can't keep running... he's dying." He said, hopelessly. Decoy was pale, cold to the touch.  
    Sam started crying. "No. You can't give up on him. We have to keep going." Right as she said that, a big run down city bus sped past them. They obviously noticed it, as no vehicles had been in use in years. They heard it screech to a stop and then back up to them, where a teen Decoy's age with half of his face badly burned stuck his head out the window with a confused look. "What the hell?" He asked. "Get in, He needs a hospital. We know where it is," he urged. They opened the bus doors for them and they loaded in, laying him in the seats. The boy with the burned face yelled, "step on it! Get us to the hospital fast, Hollywood!" To the man in the driver's seat, as there was two more guys in the front seats. They nodded and sped off to the hospital as the burned boy applied pressure to the wound. "What the hell happened?" He questioned.  
    "He was bit so we cut off his leg so he won't turn." Watcher explained quickly. The burned boy nodded. "Im good at medical things, I can help him," he said. "The hospital still has some old supplies, we can work with what it has." He explained. Sam narrowed her eyes. "At what cost?" She looked at him. "What?" He asked. "We don't want anything, he's dying. He lost his leg to survive and now he's dying, I don't think that's fair." The burned boy explained. "Who are you with?" She asked. "Sam I don't think it's the time for a full evaluation!" Watcher snapped. "They're taking us to a hospital, we should be thanking them." He said. Decoy's head went limp. "I don't want to die." He said, still panicky. He had t passed out or anything because of the shock. He hardly even knew what was happening. "Don't let me die."  
   The burned boy shook his head. "Tell me your name." He said. "Decoy.." Decoy resounded. Which caused the burned boy to raise his brows. The burns actually looked more like an odd birthmark. Just a skin discoloration that took over the right side of his forehead and smaller patches and spits under his eye. "I guess that's how ya got bit, huh? Well I'm Burns, it's a nickname. That's Hollywood and Reno. What's your friends' names?" He asked. He was trying to make sure he was alert. This was a tactic a lot of people used. "Her name is Sam and that's my big brother Watcher." He explained. He knew Watcher was technically his uncle, but he always called him his brother.  
    "That's nice, how old are you? Did you go to school before the apocalypse?" Decoy shook his head. "I was born after it began.. I'm fifteen." "Damn you're young.." Burns said. "I'm seventeen. I'm the youngest of my group, I guess you're the youngest of yours, huh?" He said. Decoy nodded. He felt sleepy. He wanted to go to sleep and stop answering his questions. "Hey now keep your eyes on me." Burns ordered. "Hollywood, speed up! We're losing him!" He yelled. "I don't want to die." Decoy said. "I'm not letting that happen." Burns said. "You wanna know how I got burned? Huh? Did you know they tried bombing  all kinds of towns that were infected before it completely took over? They bombed my town a couple years after it began when I was maybe.. ten? But anyway, I got caught in the bomb and almost lost that side of my face, but I got lucky. Now there's only minimal scarring. If we're lucky I can get your leg to look all badass too."  
    They finally pulled into the hospital and rushed the boy in. The next part was all a blur for Decoy. They had him laying on an old rusty table while they all tried holding him down, he was screaming and squirming in pain again because of the stitches going in. They searched the whole place for anesthesia or anything to numb the pain but only found Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and other smaller prescription drugs. They filled him up but it wasn't enough. They'd guessed the hospital had already been ransacked enough and everyone else got ahold of the good stuff first. When it was all over and his wound was closed up and cleaned, the had a small bit of medical bandage on it. "I really wish those bastards left at least a little pain killers." Burns bitched.  
    "Who the hell would leave the shit to stitch someone up but not any pain medication." He was pissed. When he saw Decoy was awake, he smiled. "You look like you could be a zombie." He laughed, trying to lighten to mood. It worked, and Decoy laughed. "Zombie boy." Sam snickered, poking Decoy's cheek. He knew he couldn't go by Decoy anymore. He was no longer useful for that. "Guess so," He said quietly. Reno ran back in the room panting, looking proud. "I found these in the trauma center," he held up some old elbow crutches. "I mean they aren't pain killers but I think he will definitely need them!"  
   Burns smiled at him. "Good job, man." He said. Hollywood nodded. "The finder." "That should be my god damn name. I find everything. I found the damn bus." Hollywood nodded. "You know when you get excited you cuss. Like, a lot." Reno shot him a look. "Hush. I'm useful." Sam slammed her hand down on the table. "Now that you've saved Zombie you can answer a couple questions, right?" She said. "Thank you by the way." Burns bowed his head. "Very welcome. I'll answer whatever questions you got, I guess." "Are you working with the Shepherds? Or with Reed?" She asked. "Who? No." He shook his head, making a face. "I don't even know who they are." Hollywood shook his head. "I know who they are but we ain't with them." Watcher elbowed Sam in the side. "Don't pester them like that, they just saved Zombie. They wouldn't do that if they was with Reed," "yes they would. Reed wants him. He'd be pissed if they let him die," Sam argued.  
    Zombie didn't really think they were with the Shepherds. They seemed too nice. "They showed up in convenient timing don't you think? How did they knew we were gonna be there." "That, Miss, was just luck. We were going through the town scavenging for parts." Sam rolled her eyes. Watcher stayed right next to Zombie with a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you again for helping us. You didn't have to," He said. "But we really appreciate it." Burns shook his head. "It's no problem man, trust me. I'm glad we could help. Where y'all heading?" He asked. "You can stick with us if you'd like. We have a bus, and I doubt it'd be safe for you to travel on foot anymore." Watcher bowed his head and handed him the map. "The Oasis." He kept his mouth shut about Rudy. He was trying to pretend like that didn't happen, and from how she was acting, so was Sam. They had to focus on Zombie right now.  
   "The Oasis? That place is just a myth." Burns said. "But I mean I don't see why we can't head that way and see about it," He shrugged. "I mean that's just if you guys want. I'm sure these two wouldn't mind." Hollywood and Reno both shook their heads. "The more the merrier. Safety in numbers." Hollywood said. To Sam's dismay, Watcher nodded in agreeance. "We'd really appreciate it." He said. Burns nodded happily. "We can rest here for the night and head out in the morning. He needs to be still for a bit." He said, nodding to Zombie, who was extremely out of it. Like he was high on something. They hadn't given him too much of anything they were sure, they hardly even gave him enough. So he had to be mentally not there.


	3. Chapter 3

  Zoned out, Zombie sat in the main back seats of the bus. He couldn't feel the pain. He couldn't feel the depression, he couldn't feel anything. He was numb, on a constant high. He never had any medicine to help him through amputation the way people are used to. He was constantly being watched because the infection was still a big problem, and he was constantly throwing up and with a high fever because physically and mentally he was shutting down. The past week had been like this, ever sense it happened. The sounds of the gunshots rang in his head every time he tried to sleep. The gunshots ringing, boom. Boom. Boom. Just like bombs going off all around him.  
    Then Rudy's screams. The man he viewed as a father. He heard the sounds of him being torn apart and the sounds he was making, and his voice saying "I'm sorry. I love you." Over and over again. He blamed himself for what happened. He should have been the one to die. Now all he did was slow the group down. They had to stop at every place they found to search for any kind of medicine or antibiotics, which were even more scarce than food and water nowadays. They all had to babysit him, as he was sick and injured. He was nothing to them anymore because he was no longer Decoy. He couldn't run. That was his one job. To run. To lure things away. And he couldn't do that anymore.  
    Running. That was his one thing. And he couldn't have ran a few more steps. He just had to collapse and get bit. Maybe if he'd made it those last few steps Rudy would still be here. Rudy would be more help to them than he was. He killed Rudy and he became useless. He shouldn't be alive. It was these thoughts that kept him locked away. That kept him so physically numb that no matter what was happening he didn't really feel it all the way. He felt that soreness that you have when you're just getting sick or just getting over being sick. And when he was puking, he didn't feel the acid burning his throat. He knew it was bad because now when he puked there was blood.   
    He had torn the tissues in his neck and they were bleeding. He slept more than anything. He couldn't stand being awake. When he was awake he thought about the bad things that happened. But when he dreamed, he dreamt of Rudy raising him when he was young, he dreamt of him teaching him to run. Of him teaching him how to escape anything. Then he would wake up and vomit or just sit and stare out the window. Slowly though, he was healing. He was returning from his depressive episode that had lasted a whole week. He talked a little more, but even then, he wasn't all there. He wanted to get back to normal, but he didn't know how. He felt like he  as drowning, and no one was going to save him, because no one knew.  
    There's a thing called delayed drowning. When people inhale so much water that it stays in their lungs and they don't even know it. Then they continue their life as if everything was okay, not even knowing about the water slowly filling up in their lungs, slowly killing them. Then they die. Without warning to any of their friends or family. Because no one knew. That's almost what it was like. But Zombie felt it. He knew. He felt the water filling his lungs slowly, making progress every single day. He wanted to be saved. He wanted things to be okay. Maybe not perfect, but back to normal.   
   He came out of his own mind when He heard them talking about some town. Now way were they at Oasis that fast. "We're coming up on that town we've been seeing. Maybe we should check it out?" Hollywood prompted. Reno came to the back to check on me and explain. He gave him the same sympathetic look they all gave when they came, and He hated it, but he didn't say anything, he couldn't think to. "Hey, Zombie," Reno said. "You think you can walk?" Zombie looked up at him, nodding aimlessly. He hardly knew what he was agreeing to. "We're gonna check this place out, we think it may be safe and we won't have to go all the way to the Oasis." Zombie nodded aimlessly again.   
    Reno looked him over, helping him stand and attach his elbow crutches. "There ya go.." he said. "You ready?" He asked as the car came to a stop. He nodded again. Sam was bitching up front. "I don't trust it. We don't know these people, we don't know what or who they are. They could be working with the Shepherds for all we know." She said. "You're too paranoid about it," Watcher said quietly. "Rudy wanted us to find someplace safe, didn't he? This could be that place." "He wanted us to find the Oasis." Sam corrected. "Because he knew that was safe. He didn't find this place and he didn't find anywhere else." Sam growled. "If this backfires I'm blaming you." She hissed.   
    Watcher looked at her. "What's up with you lately? You've been acting more angry and paranoid than usual." "I don't know. I lost my guardian. I almost lost zombie. I don't want to lose either of you." She grunted sarcastically. "Just maybe." Watcher rolled his eyes, looking back at Reno, who was behind Zombie and had the worried look on his face. "He's okay with it. He's up and walking." Then Watcher examines Zombie. "You look like death." He said. Zombie shrugged. "I beat it." He said. That put a smile on Watcher and Sam's faces. They were happy that he was talking and had an okay attitude.  
   They all climbed out of the bus, Reno and Zombie last. Reno stayed behind Zombie to keep him from falling backwards. A guy who looked strung out on drugs came to greet them. Zombie had never met a drug addict, so he simply thought something happened to him and he was the same as him. The guy looked at Zombie first. "Jesus Christ. What the hell happened?" He asked. "He-" Watcher began, but the guy looked him dead in the eye. "I asked him. Not you." He looked back to Zombie. "What happened to you're leg?" He asked. "Got bit. Cut it off." Zombie responded drunkly.   
    The guy raised a brow. "You were bit?" "But I'm fine." "You don't look it. You're going to turn. How long ago did this happen?" "Week or two ago." Zombie felt sick. He hadn't been up this long for the past god only knows how long. "He's fine." Watcher said. "It takes half an hour to turn. It's been weeks." Maybe they had argued, because Zombie didn't remember anything that would have prompted that sentence. He must've blacked out. Reno had his arm wrapped around him now. "He only looks the way he does because we don't have medicine. He's in pain." Reno explained. "Alright. What's your names?" The man asked. "Who's asking?" Sam spat. "I'm Max." The guy introduced.   
    "I'm Sam. That's Watcher, Reno, Hollywood,  Burns, and Zombie." "Interesting names," Max said. "Come with me. You're gonna stay with my brothers Ghost and Tommy. They'll interrogate you and," he cut himself off. "We will see if you can stay." Sam raised a brow of mistrust. "What?" She asked. "We won't go anywhere with you." She spat. "You seem risky." "Well for all we know you're the risky ones, and you've already raised my suspicions. Do you want a safe place to stay or not? We got food, medication, water, anything you want." It seemed to good to be true, but everyone else seemed on board with it. So Sam decided to follow them.  
    They led them to a building that was rundown, and another red flag that no one seemed to notice was the snipers placed on the roofs of each building. Sam held the straps to her book bag. Once they got in the building, it was one giant room. Max ushered them all in and closed the door behind himself. The first thing they noticed was the other four people like them. They knew Ghost and Tommy were different from the others because of their bullet proof vests and guns. "Give me your bags so they can be checked for weapons." Max said. "Of course we have weapons. We need them." Sam spat. "Just give him your bags. It's useless to fight." One of the other four guys in the room said, agitated.   
    They finally obliged and Max took the bags. "Thomas keep an eye on one leg." He ordered. The taller boy nodded. Zombie was too tired to care at this point, he collapsed backwards into the wall. "I'm tired." He said. "I'm not fucking turning. I'm just tired." He spat at the boy, who was now aiming his gun at him. Hollywood was amused at Zombie's sudden burst of energy. Zombie looked at him. "What. He's pointing a fucking gun at me. I didn't lose my leg to live just to get fucking shot." Not even he knew what got into him. One of the other guys sitting at the table laughed. "He's got an attitude!" He exclaimed. Zombie shot him a look. "Who the fuck even are you people?" He said.   
    The biggest of the bunch spoke. "I'm Andy. That's Remirick, Joey, and Benny." He said, pointing to each guy. "Your turn. What's y'all's names?" Sam introduced the group. Ghost watched. "So why did you guys come here?" He asked. "Same reason anyone comes here, probably." Andy said angrily. "Lookin' for a safe place to stay." Sam nodded. "I see," Ghost said. "See. We are safe. We just don't like other people coming in." He said. "The bosses don't anyway. I personally don't care." Andy rolled his eyes. "Like hell. You're just like the rest of your damn kind." Remirick spoke up. "Pretty much we are all going to die." He said. "They kill any outsider who mistakes this place as a safe zone. Even if they pass the interrogation."   
    Zombie snarled. "What?" He hissed. Sam was pissed. "You can't just kill us. We will leave and never come back." She tried to reason. "Fuck this." She went towards the door and Thomas aimed his gun. "Don't." He ordered. Without hesitation Watcher threw himself between her and the gun. "Don't shoot." He said. Max came back. "We have orders. It's time for the execution," he said. Ghost shook his head. "I don't want to." It sounded like a weight being lifted off his chest. "I don't want to do this anymore." He shook his head. Tommy looked at him, along with Max. "What?" They both asked. "I don't want to kill people anymore. They didn't do anything, and look, he lost his damn leg a week or so ago to survive. Now we're taking that from him." "What the hell are we supposed to do, then?" Tommy asked, angrily.  
    "In this world it's kill or be killed, Ghost." "I'm not a murderer, Max. I wasn't cut out for it!" He screamed. "I don't want to do this anymore, let them all run out and leave." Max looked at him, considering. He didn't want to force him to do it anymore, and he didn't want his brothers to go down in this alone. "Fine." He sighed. "We can let them leave." He said. "I'll talk to the boss and tell him you don't want to do it anymore. I don't know what I'll say about their escape." Max opened the door. "Don't get caught. Go back to your bus and leave." He glanced at the other four. "Go with them or something. Just fucking hurry." They nodded and all ran out as fast as they could to the bus, Sam climbing in the driver's seat and then speeding away.  
    "Why the hell did they let us go?" Was the main question in most of their minds. "They took our weapons and our food." Sam growled. "I fucking told you we shouldn't have stopped there," she added. "I'm sorry, Sam. I really am, we just needed to find a place." "Where the hell are we going now?" Andy asked, judging. "The Oasis." Hollywood said. "The Oasis?" He asked. "Please. That's just a myth. You're wasting your time." His attitude passed Watcher off. "If you have a problem with it then we can drop you off somewhere. You are of no importance to us." He pointed out. "We have six people already, and you have four. So if anything it would be your loss." Andy looked at him. "Why are you getting so defensive? Why don't we just find somewhere else to stay." "Because we said so. We're gonna be stopping at the next hideout we can find so that we can scavenge for food or weapons, we still have a blade here in the bus but that isn't enough to fend off biters. You can stay in that hideout if you like." He said. "But we do what we do." Sam glanced at Watcher, as she was driving and couldn't take control of the whole situation. It wasn't like him to get so defensive, he was more like Rudy. He always tried to compromise. But Andy was just this asshole. He gave him bad vibes.  
    "No no." Benny spoke up. "I'd rather we stick together. It's better that way," he said. Watcher looked at him. "Then you'll shut up and stop questioning us." He ordered. Andy rolled his eyes. "Fine then." Zombie sat in the back of the bus, going back into his own little world. Hollywood went to sit with him. "How you feeling?" He asked. Zombie shrugged. "Drained." He responded. "I can't really stay up that long anymore." Hollywood sat down. "Yeah.. I get that, and I'm sorry." He said. "But you did good." Zombie felt like crying again. He looked at him. "I used to really be the decoy. I mean.. I made distractions, led things away so everyone was safe. I was the fastest," he said with a little smile. "It was all I was good for."   
    Hollywood furrowed his brows. "If that's all you was good for they would t fight so hard to keep you alive." He said. "You can't do that anymore. So if that was the only thing they wanted you around for then you probably be dead." Hollywood wasn't a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down kind of guy, he was blunt, but nice. "And yeah, right now there isn't really anything you can do, but you're healing. Look at you. You've been through hell and back with no medicine and nothing to comfort you but this damn bus and some soup. So it's okay that you can't do shit right now."   
     That gave Zombie a little hope. Made him feel a little better mentally. "Thanks.." He said. Hollywood shrugged, "It's chill." He said. "It's badass though. When I was fifteen I wouldn't have even imagined getting my leg amputated." He laughed. "But I guess that's the world we live in now, Max was kind of right about what he said. Kill or be killed." Zombie shrugged. "What was it like before the apocalypse? You're older than Watcher, so you know, right?" He asked. Hollywood shrugged. "It was like how he explained it to you. Cities full of lovely people, schools full of kids, hospitals.. there was electricity. God I miss that." "What?" Zombie asked. "You know, lights. Tv. Cooking and Warming systems." That all sounded amazing to Zombie. "I miss it and I didn't even have it." Hollywood nodded. "It's a world to be missed."   
    Zombie always thought about that, about how things would be if the apocalypse didn't begin. Would he even be alive? What would everything be like? He'd have food other than canned soup. That's all he'd ever eaten. He never really thought about electricity or showers or anything, because that made him jealous of what his family had that he never got a chance to see. He couldn't even begin to imagine the world that they described to him.  
They finally got out of the desolate town and got into an empty, run down city. The buildings were tall and most of them were destroyed, only a few buildings remained. They were the kinds of buildings that stood six or seven stories tall. "There's nowhere really safe to stay for a long time," Burns began. "But I think there could be weapons, maybe even food. Somewhere in this buildings." Watcher nodded in agreement. "Most likely. But there's so many biters," "we can't hardly drive through them." Sam pointed out. "We'll get by. They look like they're distracted by something anyway. They're all hoarding to the one spot," Joey, another guy there said. He was the type that acted like they knew everything. "Alright Joey. Then you got out and walk past all of them. You can't do that, can you?"   
Joey looked at him. "No, I don't think I could," Sam nodded. "That's what I thought. We're gonna get through the hoard and then go scavenge." She said, glancing at Watcher. He nodded. Andy looked at them. "Are you fucking crazy? This place is eat up with biters," he said. "Plus, ain't there that one big bear thing that's supposed to hang around here? Mama, was her name?" Burns said. "Mama is just a damn myth." Andy hissed. Sam rolled her eyes. "Myth or not. We need more weapons and we need food. Hell, if we can find it, we sure as hell need medicine." She looked in the rear view mirror at Zombie.  
It had been a week or so, yeah, but he still looked like death. He was still in pain. And they still had to worry about infection. Zombie didn't even really notice her glance. He had fallen asleep. Reno was sitting with him and keeping watch to make sure he was alright. "He's useless. You should just let him die." Andy spat. "He's weak, and sick, and crippled." Sam slammed in the breaks. "Get out of the damn bus." She yelled. "What?" He asked. "No." Joey tried to defend him. "He doesn't think before he speaks." He said. "And neither do you. We're going to do this one thing together because safety in numbers and shit and then we split."  
Slamming on the breaks had woken Zombie up and he almost fell out of the seat, if Reno hadn't stopped him. He kept his mouth shut about what was said, hoping he wasn't conscious enough to hear it. "We're gonna have to go scavenge," he explained. "You'll be alright with that, right?" Zombie looked confused. "But we don't have weapons to.." he trailed off. Reno shook his head, going and grabbing a machete from one of the compartments. "We have this."  
   Hollywood made his way to the back with Watcher. "You'll be okay with this right?" Watcher asked.  Zombie nodded sleepily. Hollywood intertwined his fingers with Reno's and kissed him gently, to Watcher and Zombie's surprise. "You guys are together?" Watcher asked.  
    "Hell yeah we are," Reno said proudly. "We've been together for years." Hollywood added. Zombie smiled a little at it and so did Watcher. Andy, however, was judging. He was homophobic. "Nasties. You'll be good friends with them, huh, Benny?" He asked. Benny's face went a shade of red and he shook his head. "Shut it." He growled. They finally slowed to a stop once they were out of sight of the biters in front of a smaller building. It looked like a smaller version of a sky scraper, maybe six or seven stories tall. "Sense Zombie can't really go far, Reno and Joey should just check one building and wait there for us while Zombie stays in the bus." Sam explained. "Reno keeps the weapon." She said, glaring at Joey. Looking at her, offended, Joey complained. "Why don't I get to come along with you guys on the real scavenge?"  
Sam shot him a look. "Because I don't trust you to not get us killed. If you're in one building then there's not much damage you can do." She glanced at Reno. The group piled out of the bus and put it in park, Sam leading Watcher, Burns, Hollywood, and the others out into the abandoned city and Reno waiting for Joey to stop complaining. "Just get out of the damn bus." He ordered. "I'm not going in alone." Joey shook his head. "If Zombie gets to stay here then I do." He grinned. "Zombie is hurt, he won't be able to.." he cut himself off, not wanting to hurt Zombie. "He won't be able to run if worse comes to worst." He said.   
   "Well it's not fair." "We have to go in to check. There could be supplies we need." Reno snarled a lip. Zombie got up and attached the elbow crutches. He stumbled to the front of the bus and climbed out with Reno. "Joey, get out of the damn bus. Look. I'm out," he said. Reno looked at Zombie, surprised. "What? You can't go," "it's the only way, and Joey is being a baby, so I have to." Joey smiled and trotted our proudly, like he accomplished something. Reno was pissed, but kept his mouth shut, keeping himself close to Zombie. The three wandered through the building. The place was just as decayed on the inside as it was on the outside, a nasty grime covering the walls and everything in it. There was bodies lining the floor and it was Reno and Joey's job to check each one for knives or guns. Any kind of weapon.  
    "Andy never did things like this, it's nasty." Joey complained. "Well that's too bad." Reno snapped. Zombie kept guard of the corridors, making sure no biters could sneak up on them. By now they'd made it to the upper floors of the building. Being dead silent, the pair scavenged everything, finding several weapons. One of the bodies moved slightly with an accidental nudge, which sent Joey into a panic, where he pulled the trigger to one of the guns and shot it. The shot rang off in Zombie and Reno's ears, and they both stared at Joey blankly. "You're not supposed to fucking shoot it, dammit! Not unless it's the only fucking choice!" Reno yelled.   
    Joey yelped at his yell. "Well it fucking moved!" "You kicked it! Even if it were a biter I have a machete! I could've killed it soundlessly." Reno shut himself up as he heard the groans of biters coming. A lot of them. "Shit.." Reno cursed under his breath. Joey looked at him. "This is your fault for yelling, you know." He spat words of venom while searching frantically for a way out. "They're coming from the only exit," he gave up hope. "Well they might not be able to get us in here. Go make sure the entry to this corridor is shut off. Block it by any means," Reno sighed and looked out the window to see a small hoard of biters crowding around the building. They were either already making their way inside or were going to bust the windows.   
    "Shit.." he shook his head. "If you hadn't shot the gun, you dumbass." He glared at Joey. Joey ran off to try and block the entry to the corridor, Zombie sinking back into a wall. "I really don't like this new group we're with." He used his free hand to run his fingers through his hair. By now he was only using one crutch to support his missing leg, instead of two. Reno looked at him. "That, I can agree on." Reno smiled a little, watching out the window. He was trying to scope out a place to make it out if something were to happen. There was a ledge on the outside of the window, it was wide enough to crawl on and not fall off- good for Zombie.   
    "Aye, Zombie, come here real quick." He motioned for him to come closer. Zombie did as told, shuffling over the bodies to him. Reno pointed. "You think you could crawl on that to another window?" He asked, and right as he said it, screams broke out. Screams that belonged to Joey. Reno instantly knew what had happened when he heard the growls and cries of the biters growing closer. "Shit! Watch out," He ordered, taking the elbow crutch from Zombie and shattering the window. "Quick, go go go go!" He screamed at Zombie, lifting him out of the window and onto the ledge. "Crawl!" As soon as Zombie was out of the way, Reno hoisted himself out- But not quite fast enough, one of them bit down on his hand, which was still latched onto the window sill for balance.   
   He screamed and jerked it away. "Bastard!" He grabbed his wrist. "What?" Zombie asked as he sped up crawling. "N..nothing," Reno insured. "Just get to a window farther from here. Then.. then I'll explain." He was panicking, but knew he had to get Zombie to safety. He had to get both of them to safety. He didn't really know how he'd explain Joey- it was the fucker's own fault that he died. They made it to a window a couple rooms away from the one they were just in, and Reno ordered Zombie to stop- using the crutch to bust it. They both made their way back into the building. "I got bit. It got my hand-" Reno muttered, holding his wrist as of trying to cut off circulation. Zombie stared in shock, and it was like he lost control of his body.   
    Without even thinking, he reached into the bag and grabbed the machete. "This is gonna hurt.." he said, as he grabbed Reno's wrist away from him and held it out, using the blade to chop the arm off in a couple swings. It was almost exactly like what happened when Zombie's leg was amputated, the ear splitting scream right before shock took over. Reno stared at the bloody wound. "Shit shit.." he said under his breath. Zombie went into his own version of shock. He shut his emotions off and did everything so blankly. So emotionlessly. He pulled the walkie talkie out of the bag and chimed in. "I had.. I had to cut off Reno's arm. He got bit when we tried to escape, Joey's dead." He explained, as he attached his crutch and grabbed Reno as they quickly made their way out of the building and ran out to the bus, to safety.


	4. Chapter 4

Hearing Zombie's voice come over the walkie talkie saying what it did sent the whole group into shock. Hollywood stared at Sam in complete terror. "What?" He asked. She shook her head, going over what he said. They were buildings away from where the two were. Burns instantly took off in a sprint to them. "I'll go deal with it! You guys stay here!" He ordered. "Keep scavenging." Hollywood wanted to follow Burns but knew he would come of no use if he left, and to stay put. "Burns is coming to you, just stay in the bus!" Sam ordered over the walkie talkie.   
She felt bad just abandoning them to be on their own like that. But she knew they had to keep searching- especially now. With two amputees they were going to need more weapons, more medication, and more supplies in general. They had enough antibiotics and bandages left in the bus to care for the both of them for now, but she knew it wouldn't last. "We can't just stop searching, come on." She ordered as everyone began searching again.   
They all split up into smaller groups to cover more ground, Sam went with Remirick and Hollywood, while Watcher went with Andy and Benny.   
   Hollywood covered one half of the floor assigned to the three while Sam covered the other half, Remirick staying too close for comfort to her. She had her back turned to him to rummage through an old torn bag she'd found when she felt him press himself against her. She turned and slapped him as hard as she could. "Get away from me." She ordered. Remi looked her up and down, holding where she hit. "Feisty little lady.. aren't you?" He grabbed her wrist and slammed her against the wall. People like this still existed in the apocalypse, and even with their lives constantly in danger, they still wanted to get laid. She felt sick when she felt his skin touching hers and hearing those words come from his mouth.   
    "I said.. get. Away!" She kneed his groin as hard as she could and head butted him, forcing him to double over and collapse. As soon as he hit the ground, Hollywood came running to see what had happened. "Sam?" He asked, looking down at Remi, confused. "Don't let him near me." She growled, stepping over his fallen body and continuing to search. Soon, the two teams were back together and on the last floor. Hollywood keeping a close eye on Sam to make sure she was okay, but an even closer eye on Remi. He didn't know what he did, but Sam never once acted like that before. Not for her own protection. Watcher soon picked up on Hollywood's stares and he began to watch, too, just in case.  
"Well hello," a voice rang out. It was Reed. "So you survived that little warehouse trip couple weeks back?" He asked. Watcher stiffened up angrily, looking in the direction of the voice.  
    "What are you doing here?" Watcher asked sternly. "Oh, just on our rounds." Reed responded quietly and he stepped out of the shadows. Following behind him were his goons. Watcher glared at him for a minute before shooting his glare to B.A., the one who took away Zombie's leg and killed Rudy. He had just as much reason to hate that little preteen looking shithead as he did Reed. Felix looked over Watcher, examining him. He was thinking. His younger brother Trauma, who was also with the Shepherds, picked up on that. "What's on your mind?" He asked through gritted teeth, keeping quiet and letting the others talk. "I don't know." Felix responded, shoving his hands in his pockets. He was beginning to realize that they were on the wrong side. That the Shepherds were not as holy as they may have seemed in the beginning. It wasn't just this confrontation that made him realize, though. It was everything he'd seen. They killed infants and elderly, anyone who couldn't easily work or contribute. They would kill anyone who refused to join them, and much more.  
   "Want to keep your life, and you should tell me where my son is. Cameron." He grinned. Watcher snarled a lip and got into a defensive pose, ready to fight. "We won't tell you jack shit, Reed." Andy smirked happily. "Who's he talking about? Zombie?" Sam instantly knew what was going to happen. She knew what Andy was gonna do, and she aimed a blade that they'd found in one of the buildings at him. "Tell him and I'll kill you myself." She threatened. Reed aimed his gun at her. "And if you don't let him tell me I'll kill you." B.A. laughed. "Why not just kill her already? She's the leader. Cut off the leader and the rest will be helpless. Just like a chicken without a head."   
   Snow elbowed B.A.'s side roughly as if telling him to shut up. Suddenly their confrontation was interrupted by something moving around in the next room over. There was a thick wall of dirty glass separating the two rooms- the glass so dirty that you could only make out silhouettes of everything in it. Reed lowered his gun as Sam lowered her blade and everyone watched in confusion. They heard ominous grunts and groans from something not human nor biter. The silhouette grew larger as whatever was on the other side came closer to the wall of glass. They heard it shuffling around and sniffing. "What the hell.." Reed asked silently. "Yo! What the hell is that thing?" B.A. yelled. "Dumbass!" Snow screamed as the loudest, most traumatizing roar of all time filled the eerie silence. The silhouette rose to its hind legs, so the creature grew to be a little over seven feet tall.   
    "Oh my god!" Trauma screeched as a loud clash followed, the glass shattering into a million pieces. Through the broken wall came a blood-stained mass of fur and exposed skin. It's face was halfway demolished, as a hunting knife had hacked off half of it and left nothing but torn flesh and exposed bone in its wake. Large masses of fur had been permanently burned off of her body in many fires or explosions, gunshot wounds scarring her body. She stood on hind legs once again, releasing another death defying roar. B.A. shakily aimed his gun at her and shot several times. The bullets had almost no affect on the beast's thick pelt, but they did manage to anger her greatly.   
    She collapsed back down to all fours once more, charging B.A. and biting down on his face. She ripped his jaw clean off, his head falling limp and nothing but torn muscle and bloody tissue remained, his tongue flopping out like a comical dead dog on a cartoon. His screams grew silent as the life was drained from his body. Snow snarled angrily at the thing. "You killed my friend!" He screamed. Reed has already booked it by now, abandoning the goons to be on their own. Felix grabbed Trauma's wrist and yanked him alongside him, not waiting to become one of the bear's new victims.   
    "Come on, we know a fast way out- it can't follow us this way!" He ordered Sam and her group. Sam, who was in shock, didn't even question who's orders she was following. She just grabbed Watcher, threw him in front of herself so he would get out faster, and followed them. Hollywood followed not too far behind, and then the rest. Felix threw himself and Trauma out of a window, tuck and rolling onto the roof of another, much smaller building. Without hesitation everyone followed. Behind them, they heard the bear tearing apart anyone left behind. They didn't know who it was just yet, in too much of a panic to care. "Wait!" They heard the quiet, terrified voice of Benny screaming. He didn't have the balls to jump out of the window. The drop looked too far, and he was scared.   
  Watcher ran back to the window and held his arms up. "I'll catch you, come on! Hurry!" He was shaking as he stood there, wanting to run with every fiber in him. Wanting away from Mama. But his eyes met with Benny's, and he saw the fear and grief in him that he was sure he reflected, and he saw that emotion get replaced with that of pain as Mama swatted the side of his face, knocking him out of Watcher's view. He turned and just booked it. Running faster than his legs could carry, tripping and falling, hard. Before he hit the ground Felix grabbed the back of his shirt and hoisted him back to his feet. "Careful, man!" He screamed.   
They all very quickly, but carefully, climbed down the side of the building while hearing the roars of Mama growing closer. Once they hit solid ground, they just kept running. They threw themselves over cars, Sam leading them towards the building Reno and Zombie were in.   
This is what Burns saw as he sped towards them, coming to help them. "What the fuck.." he mumbled, watching Sam do barrel rolls over cars, with Watcher and the others following alongside her. He slowed to a stop right next to them. They all piled in faster than they had room in the door for. "Go go go!" Sam screamed to the top of her lungs. "Shit! Okay!" Burns stepped on the gas without hesitation. Hollywood went to Reno. "Your hand," he tried to focus on that more than he focused on the visions of Mama and her victims. Sam stayed right next to Burns. "Why the hell are you in my seat.." she uttered angrily. "Well do you want me to stop?" Burns asked. She glared at him.  
Watcher went to the back with Zombie, Reno, and Hollywood. "Zombie, are you okay?" He asked. Zombie was still out of it from amputating Reno's arm. "I cut off his arm." He said, with a thousand yard stare. "Now he's gonna be useless like me." Reno looked down at him. "What?" He said. Zombie looked up at him and shrugged. "I hurt you. I'm sorry." Reno sat down in the seat in front of him and looked down at his freshly stitched and bandaged arm. "You didn't hurt me, you saved me. You're not useless." "I can't even walk. That was my job. To run. To be a damn decoy! That was my name." "Hey hey, you ain't useless. Because you got bit, you knew how to save my life. I'd be dead if it weren't for you." He said.   
"So neither one of us are useless. Not me. Not you." Zombie looked up at him. He nodded ever so slightly. He didn't know if he believed him or not. Sam looked back at them, making her way back. "Thank you Reno." She said. "You let him get out first, and got yourself bit. You were going to die for him." She put a hand on his shoulder. Reno knew that meant that she finally, truly trusted him. He smiled at her. "You're welcome." He said quietly. She then glared at Felix and Trauma, who were in the main back seats of the bus. She made her way to them. "Why the hell did you save us? You're working with the Shepherds." She stood in front of them, glaring down.   
Trauma opened his mouth. "Because Reed tan off and we had to save our asses somehow-" Felix cut him off. "I realize that the Shepherds are wrong. They kill innocent people. I don't want to be part of that anymore. I don't want Trauma taking part in it either. He's my baby brother." He said. "He doesn't understand it just yet." Sam rolled her eyes. "He's a grown man." She pointed at Zombie. "He is fifteen years old. He understands right and wrong. He understands the Shepherds are evil." Felix shrugged. "They saved us when no one else did, they kept us alive. We only knew them, of course we followed them.." he explained. "But I know that they're wrong. I know we were wrong for following them. But we want to change our ways." Sam caught on to some of his wording. She glared at Trauma. "You learned that it was wrong. But did he?" She asked. Watcher stepped between them. "Sammy, knock it off.. they saved us." He put his hands on her shoulders. "If they turn out like Andy and them then we'll leave them be."   
Sam looked up at him. "And what if it's too late when we realize." Watcher looks at her, then at Hollywood. Hollywood knew what she was talking about and shook his head slightly as if to tell him not to push her any further. "Listen, Sam," he said. "We're just gonna give them a chance, you gave us a chance and we turned out fine, right? It was one bad group." He said softly, as convincingly as possible. She looked at him, then back at the two. "Fine. Anything happens..." she started. "You'll be the one to kill them." Hollywood nodded. "I promise." Watcher was frustrated on the fact that he had no idea what happened. That he had no way of helping her.   
But he wouldn't mention anything to her, or in front of her. "Uh.. Sam?" Burns called for her from the driver's seat. She went up to him. "I think you're really the one that belongs in this seat. I can't read this map for shit," he chuckled, pulling over and letting her take his place. He heard their tension and decided that would relieve it. She grunted. "You can't read this map... it's easy." She complained as she started the bus back up. He laughed under his breath. Of course he knew how to read it, it was easy. "Show me how, Then?" He asked. She sighed and explained it to him. He nodded and said, "I see.." and then let her do her thing and joined the others.   
"It's been a rough couple'a days." He said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall and brushing his bangs from his face. Reno looked at him. "You're telling me." "I watched a bear eat several people." Watcher said. Hollywood looked at him like he was crazy. "No. You watched a bear eat several people." Burns looked at them. "Mama?" He asked. They both nodded. "Was she as bad as everyone makes her out to-" "Yes." All of them yelled back at Reno as he started asking the question. "She was fucking worse than what they say! You will see her! I know you will," Sam yelled. Felix nodded. "She killed like six people in two minutes flat." He exaggerated by talking with his hands.   
Burns laughed. "Well damn... fuck the biters, and the people. The bear sounds worse." Watcher looked at him. "You think?" "What's the story of her anyway... how does it go?" Reno asked. "She was a circus bear before it began," Zombie started. "She trusted people, hell, she loved them. She had two cubs. The. After the apocalypse began, she saw people and got curious. They killed her cubs right in front of her and then tried to kill her.. but failed." He shrugged. "Then people kept trying to hunt her. She lost all trust or love for humans and began hunting them." "She never dies. No matter what you do. Like, she's been shot, stabbed, hell- even burned. Nothing kills her."   
"She sounds powerful." "Yeah. She sure is." Watcher shook his head. "She's scary." Hollywood nodded. "Should we stop anywhere else?" Sam asked. "For more scavenging?" Burns got up and started looking through the bags. "We have enough to last us a couple days maybe. So no."   
A couple weeks passed by, and the group went on another outing. They'd run completely out of everything, and had stopped in a small, abandoned ghost town. By ghost town, it's even void of biters. They had only saw about two or three. "We can all split up and cover everything, meet back here." Sam said, looking at Zombie and Reno. "Will you two be okay going on your own?" She asked. Reno nodded without hesitation. "Yes ma'am." He promised, and Zombie nodded a little after him. He was a little more hesitant, and he pushed it off and it was stupid. Because his amputation was almost a month ago now, and Reno's was still more fresh. He thought he was being a baby.   
Watcher looked at him. "You can stay here if you want." He said. "It'll be fine if you're not comfortable going out. Same for you, Reno." Reno shook his head, already making his way to join everyone else outside the bus. Zombie shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I can go." He said. He didn't say it in a defensive or angry tone, just a tired one. Once everyone was outside Sam explained what to do, making sure everyone had a walkie talkie. "If anything happens and you need us, just radio in and we will all hear you." She said. "We'll meet back here whenever we're done."  
And with that, they dispersed in different directions. Zombie made his way to an old house, the door already busted down. He found cans of soup scattered about on the floor- an easy find. Usually, they were more scarce. Or they were at least hidden in the cabinets. It was like this home was scavenged already but whoever it was neglected to take anything with them. He found it odd. "Lucky me.." he mumbled. He bagged everything he found. He made his way to the other end of the house, looking out of the window and seeing the oddest vehicle- a tank looking thing with a giant elephant skull attached to the hood.   
"What the hell?" He asked aloud. He usually talked to himself when he was alone. He went out the back door to examine it. The elephant's giant tusks had impaled a few biters, who were disturbingly still groaning and reaching for him. There were cages in the back of the tank thing, and inside were more biters. Smaller. Children. The thing about them was that they weren't very decayed. Not all of them. Some were extremely decayed like they'd been dead for years- but some looked freshly killed. Only bloody on their mouths and bite sites. They groaned and clawed at the wires of their cages in an attempt to reach him. They were starving.  
The freshest was a little boy. His eyes were glazed over and the whites had turned yellow, his skin a ghostly pale that made him sick. The blood stained his mouth and the bite was on his tiny, thin little arm. He was starved before death. They all were. Zombie realized that they probably weren't as alone as they thought in this town- and that whoever owned this vehicle was sick. But he realized this a moment too late, hearing, "Lucky me.." in the most sinister, deranged voice he'd ever heard. Then a sharp pain went off in the back of his head, he'd been hit. He was hit hard. He made a weird gurgle sound and collapsed, struggling to crawl away. He grabbed the walkie talkie, screaming "there's a creepy guy with a weird ass tank thing... he's trying to kill me.. hel.." he went unconscious as the man hit him once more.   
When he woke up, he had no idea where he was. It felt almost surreal. He laid still, keeping his eyes closed tight for a minute. There was a bright light shining in his eyes. Which was weird. He'd never experienced electricity, no electrical lights. Finally he opened his eyes and groaned, trying to sit up but his movement was restricted by the wires around him. He was in one of those tiny cages he saw the biter kids in. "You're awake.." the deranged and wild voice from before said. Blinded by the light, Zombie covered his eyes. He didn't say anything, rather, he just laid there. He curled his toes, then moved his ankle. He realized his knee was bent in an uncomfortable angle and he couldn't rearrange it. His body was curled in an odd position, too. The cage was too small, contorting him into an awful position.   
He saw fresh bruises all over himself that he didn't recognize- they were of all shapes and sizes and colors, the worst ones being on his arms. Giant, purple and black ones. Was that really his skin? He knew his throat and face were also badly beaten, he felt the swelling and the sensitivity to the touch. "You're probably wondering where you are now. A safe place for children." The voice had tics and pauses when it talked, Zombie knew that the man wasn't all there in his head. He looked around the room, seeing corpses of kids or even adults spread around the room. In the other cages were biters.   
"Don't worry. The biter's ain't gonna get ya until ya try and run." Th man reassured. "You must be hungry. Right? Yeah. Hungry. Hungry little baby boy. Baby boy." The man laughed as a sweet aroma filled the air, almost masking the scent of death, as Zombie had become so accustomed to it. "Ever had meat before? This is chicken. It was in a freezer for a while but it should still be good." Chicken? What..? What was this? Meat? Zombie remembered hearing Watcher talk about it. But it wasn't like he was gonna trust the man. He came into the light of the room, and he looked exactly as he sounded. His hair was long, gray, and stringy. He had a beard that matched his hair and his eyes were sunken back into his head.  
His teeth were all either missing or jagged. He was completely and utterly naked. The man slid a plate of meat into Zombie's cage. "Eat," He said. "Eat and you'll grow stronger." Zombie stared at the food. "I said eat." The man ordered, punching the cage and screaming. "Eat! Eat eat eat!" He screamed over and over. Scared for his life, Zombie took a few bites. The man wasn't having it. "Eat until the plate is clean!" Zombie of course did as told, not wanting to anger the crazy guy. "Good boy. Good." He took the plate and wandered off, coming back with water. "Open your mouth. Look up," He ordered again. Zombie shook his head. He didn't want to. The man got angry, screamed, and poured the water all over him.   
"Bad.. bad bad bad!" The man threw the bottle at him. Zombie struggled to move around, struggled to readjust himself. The man kicked his cage over and over, every time he would jerk. Zombie collected his thoughts, remembering what happened just before he went out. He told the others. They know he was kidnapped- no. They would probably think he's dead. He told them he was trying to kill him. He had to find some way to get to them. To talk to them. He went back into the state of emotion that he did when his leg was first cut off- just constantly high. He couldn't really deal with thinking about what was going on while thinking about how to escape.  
He watched the man have sex with some of the bodies, the man staring at him the whole time. "I'll do this to you one day, pretty boy. You'll be the favorite. I'll hurt you." Zombie wandered how many of the bodies here that he'd said that to. Those exact words. The man drug him out of the cage and threw him on the ground, beating him and kicking him. Zombie tried to crawl away, tried to get up, but without his crutch he couldn't stand. Each time he tried escape the man would drag him back and beat harder, so he curled up and took it. Sharp, unholy pains ran through his body. He thought his ribs would break, he thought everything in his body would break.   
The man kicked him right in the mouth, and that was the last kick. Zombie cried out in pain and held his mouth, trying to cover his head at the same time. The taste of metallic fluid filled his mouth, he was sure this was going to be the end. This was how he was going to die. The man lifted him up by the throat, lifting him to his height, and licking his cheek. "You're real pretty when you're scared." The psycho dropped him to the ground and forced him back in the tiny cage. This process would repeat for god only knows how long. It could have been hours. It could have been days. Zombie began hallucinating the bodies coming to life, becoming biters and trying to eat him, the tiny wires of the cage being the only thing to protect him.   
He started seeing hallucinations of himself as a little boy standing outside the cage. Wrapping his tiny fingers in the bars. "You gotta get back to Watcher and Sammy." He said. "I can't.." Zombie said weakly. Over the course of the days, the man continued to force him to eat the meat, the raw, expired meat. He was getting severely ill with food poisoning. His stomach was churning and his whole body throbbed, he'd puked so many times he'd sworn there was blood in it. He was going to vomit himself to death. He was marinating in his own sweat and vomit, only being freed from it when the man brought him out for another beating. He'd often contemplated that death would be better than this.  
He felt his stomach begin to churn violently again as if something were growing inside him, he felt that nasty lock jaw you get when you're about to puke, he felt the stomach acid slowly crawling up his throat. He tried to puke. He tried, but nothing came out. He'd already liked up all he had that day. He knew if things kept going like this he would starve. He felt himself growing weaker everyday, he could hardly even lift his arms anymore. "They're looking for you. They don't think you're dead. You gotta get up." The little boy said, shaking the cage. "Remember what Sammy showed you? When you lost your leg? She picked the lock right in front of us." The boy said. "Pick it. You know how!"   
Zombie weakly eyeballed the lock. It was the same one Sam had picked. He did know how to pick it. He saw the vivid memory of how she used the tiny pins and needles to break it open, the precise movement of her hands. He maneuvered his body in a way that he could use both hands, the new position soaking his body in what he could only guess was sweat, puke, and piss. He was dehumanized. This experience was worse than anything he'd ever went through before. He lost his dignity, everything. He picked the lock as fast as he could, hearing the man's insane voice coming ever closer to the room in which he was in.   
He finally got it open. "Now you gotta fight. You gotta win." The tiny version of himself cooed. He drug himself out of the cage. He drug himself to a far corner of the room, the corner where the man kept all his knickknacks from those he killed. There, was his crutch. He quickly attached it. He didn't know how he was moving so much. He didn't know how he knew exactly what to do. Two minutes ago, he was unable to lift his arm. He was on the brink of death. Adrenaline was stronger than he'd ever truly imagined. He stayed in the dark corner, waiting for the man to come in. He wanted this bastard to die. He was blood thirsty. A desire deep within his soul that he could only fulfill with seeing this man join his collection of corpses. He felt his stomach turning, but it felt like nothing now.   
The man entered the room, staring at the cage. "How.." he muttered. "Where are you!" He screamed, punching the wall. Zombie didn't say anything. Not one word. But he took this opportunity. He used the crutch to nail the man dead center of his spine, hard. It forced the man down onto his knees, where Zombie held himself up with the wall and swung with all his might, beating the man in the side of his head. He felt the crack in the man's head through the metal of the crutch. "You'll never be able to hurt anyone else ever again." He screamed, limping over to be right above the man. He didn't give him a chance to fight back. He used the crutch to beat him to death. The sounds of the man's skull crunching and breaking as the inners busted through would scar him for life.   
His eyes were gone, his brains splattered the walls and floor. Blood caked everything in the room, including Zombie. It made him sick to think that this man's blood was touching him.  
It was grossly disturbing, but the man's nerves were still working. His body was still twitching slightly and moving around, and this continued for a few seconds before he finally went still. Zombie spat on him, stumbling out of the room to search. He found what he needed. Walkie talkie. He tried to radio in to his group, and eventually did. He wasn't sure if it was only his group who could hear him or if anyone else could too, but he didn't really care. "Watcher? Sammy? Anybody..? It's me, Zombie." He asked.   
To his joy, he heard Burns's voice. "Zombie where are you?" He asked, clearly panicked. "We've been looking all over for you- who took you? are you okay?" Zombie looked out the window, to his relief he was still near that damn town. The town he was taken in. "I'm right outside the town we were in when I was kidnapped." He didn't like hearing himself talk. It didn't sound like him. His voice was raw and hoarse. It didn't sound like his own. He would be amazed if they actually believed it was him. "We went a little farther out. It might take a little while before we get there. Hang tight, Zombie." Burns said. His voice sounded so scared.   
Zombie nodded a little, keeping the walkie talkie and wandering around the house a little more. He felt the sickness beginning to kick in again and instantly doubled over in pain, holding his stomach. "Fuck... I. Hate. Meat." He uttered. He saw his reflection in a mirror. It was the first time he'd ever stopped and looked at himself sense they left the cabin. The first time he saw himself and had the time to look closer, as they were always on the run. He didn't see Zombie looking back at him. He saw a corpse. He saw what everyone feared to become. His Skin was pale and bruised, his eyes were sunken far into his head and bloodshot-the vomiting continuously had busted the veins, he had his own blood staining around his nose and mouth while the sick bastard's blood stained everything else.  
He wanted to cry at seeing this. He really wasn't a human being anymore. That was taken from him. His hair was so sweaty it stuck to his forehead. But he wasn't hot. He was freezing cold. Maybe he really was dying. He limped out of the house, falling several times due to the weakness of illness. He had gotten it all. He'd had the flu, the cold, strep throat, everything. But he'd never gotten food poisoning like this. He'd had it once or twice when eating spoiled food as a child, but even then. It wasn't force fed to him for days. It wasn't big amounts. It was small amounts in one day.   
So his body had no real immune to this sickness like it had to the others. His body was taken by surprise. But he couldn't stop moving. He knew if he stopped moving, he wouldn't be able to move again. So he kept limping around the house, finding that there was armory. There was a garage, and inside the walls were lined with every type of gun you could imagine. Every blade. Even a couple grenades. His eyes lit up. This is what they needed. This is what they'd been looking for. He examined everything and made sure it all still worked. Soon, he heard vehicles coming closer. But it wasn't just a bus.   
There was several other vehicles. His fears had been confirmed, and his group were not the only ones to have heard his cry for help. How did they know exactly where he was? He didn't know. He grabbed a grenade. He was not in the mood for this. Not in the mood for a confrontation. Yes, if it were good people, maybe they could all pull together. But his trust had been broken so many times in the past month. He couldn't trust them. He limped to the door, looking out. On the right came the bus. But on the left, there was several hummers. All the cars had came to a stop. Everyone stepping out. Zombie leaned against the door, having that nasty puke feeling again and holding his stomach tightly.   
Reed was the leader in the lead hummer. He stepped out. More dogs from the Shepherds. Zombie was tired of him following him. He had already killed a living human being today. It was his first human kill, he hardly ever even had to kill biters. The heaviness of that still hadn't hit him. He was ready to kill fifty more. His group seemed more worried about getting to him than they were about confronting the Shepherds. Trauma made a dash for it to get to Reed, Felix just watching him go. He wasn't willing to betray Sam's trust to force his brother to stay. Sam chose that moment to run for Zombie. She needed him safe. Reed pulled a gun and shot at her, Felix tackling her to the ground just in time so the bullet hardly scared her cheek, leaving merely a scratch.   
Zombie looked at his group, then at the Shepherds. There wasn't much of a confrontation after that. Time slowed to a stop as he pulled the plug on the bomb, tossing it at Reed. He counted in his head. Three. Reed watched the bomb come closer in shock and tried to get to safety, along with all over his people. Zombie's group did the exact same. Two. Was his own group far enough away from the Shepherds that they wouldn't get hit? What about Sam and Felix? One. Boom. The explosion was so loud he was sure everyone in the world could hear it, the flames shooting over fifty feet in the air. He didn't feel pain. Not fear. In that moment it was a feeling of tranquility. Acceptance.   
He collapsed to the ground, unable to hold himself up anymore. He closed his eyes, hearing the familiar voices of his friends and family surrounding him in panic. When he woke up, they were on the bus, driving away. His eyes opened up slowly, and he had fresh clothes on and was wrapped in the only blanket they had. Watcher sat with him, holding him tightly in his arms. Reno, Hollywood, and Burns all sat in the chairs nearest to them while everyone else was closer to the front with Sam, bickering about god only knows what. "He's waking up," Reno said quietly. Watcher tightened his grip on him. His head was still throbbing, and he felt like death.   
He remembered everything. "Are they dead?" He asked weakly. "Yep. All of them. Reed won't bother us ever again," Watcher smiled. "You did good." Burns said. Zombie looked at his hands, which were cleaned of blood. How did they get him clean? How did they do anything? There was no such thing as a shower or bath. That question wasn't too important to him. He was just happy he was alive. "Did you see what I found? The armory.." he looked around at them, and they thought his excitement in a time like this about something like that was cute. "We sure did. You did good." Burns said again. "I'm sorry it took us so long to find you. We searched. That house went right over our heads."   
Zombie's mind flashed back to seeing the man fuck the bodies, the beatings.. when he'd hit and kick and scream at the cage he was in and make him fear for his life. Then it flashed to the vision of his younger self. He didn't know what it was, or why, but it saved him.


	5. Chapter 5

  "I'm sorry about your brother." Zombie said, remembering seeing Trauma run to Reed right before the bomb went off. Trauma, who was in the main back seats, looked up from whatever he was doing. He looked at Zombie and shook his head. The man was still mourning his dead brother, his nose a light red like he'd been crying. "It's fine. He chose his side," he said. His voice was low and grim. Zombie realized that he'd stolen this man's life. He had taken away what family he had, killed him right in front of him. He'd killed so many people in one day. He was no better than Reed. No better than the fucker who kidnapped him.   
    He wanted to express that thought, wanted to tell them how he felt, but he knew it was useless. It would be stupid to bring it up. He'd become more of a bother to them than he already was. He was starting to lose hope. This was all life would ever Be. All it ever had been. Running away from biters, running away from people. Always scared for your life. Always hurting. Always losing people you love. He'd watched so many people die in the past month that he couldn't even count. This was really all there was to it. Whatever Rudy had explained, The Oasis, he was beginning to think that it really wasn't real. It was either not real, or evil, like the Shepherds. It hit him to ask Felix about his thoughts. He knew that Burns, Reno, and Hollywood didn't believe in it, but he didn't know about Felix. "The Oasis." He said, finally. "Is it even real?" He asked.  
    Felix looked at him again, nodding. "It's very real. Grim always talked about it. We even went to attack it a couple'a times." Everyone looked at Felix. They had all began losing their faith, and he just confirmed it was real. "What's it like?" Zombie asked. "Well," Felix said. "It's been a couple years sense we went. Reed was always wanting you so we stayed closer to you. But.." he zoned out for half a second. "It's got this huge concrete wall separating it from the rest of the world. Goes all around the place, hundred of miles we assumed.. we never found any stop to it." He explained.   
    "I've never been on the inside. They got guards up on top of the concrete wall, which, it's like.. a couple stories tall. Maybe eight. But they know how to get along in life. They're set up real good." Felix made it sound like heaven. Something no one thought the world would have again. Felix saw their disbelief. "I know. Hard to believe, right? But it's real." Zombie nodded a little. "What kind of people are they?" He asked. Felix shrugged. "I really don't know. I haven't been inside so I don't know really anything. They don't seem bad." "But neither did the Shepherds, to you." Hollywood pointed out.   
    "Well, true." Felix nodded. "I heard they send people out to recruit people living on the outside. They go far and wide," he added. "They came all the way to Texas." Watcher said distantly. He said it more to himself, like a sudden realization. "Rudy said he met one in Texas before we left." "See? Far and wide." Felix laughed. Sam listened, driving on a narrow road that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. They were in Kansas by now. Zombie watched out the window, feeling himself about to puke again. Burns could tell and instantly opened the bus window for him to puke out of. They didn't have anything in the bus for him to puke in. He leaned his head out and puked.   
"Sorry.." He said quietly, wiping his mouth. Watcher shook his head. "What the hell did he do to you?" He asked. Zombie just looked at him. "Meat." He said, angrily. He was slowly building up a hatred for something that he use to mourn for. That he use to want. Watcher looked surprised. "You was right, Burns, it's food poisoning." Burns looked at him. "If the world wasn't coming to an end, I'd be a nurse. I know what I'm doing." "You're what. Seventeen? You'd be in high school." "In nursing classes in high school." "So you remember the world before it began, Burns?" Zombie asked. Burns looked at him, shaking his head. "I don't. I hardly remember anything." "I remember it," Watcher said. "It was still just as dangerous as the world today. People just had so many luxuries like electricity, food, anything they could wish for right at hand and foot.. so no one paid any attention to the problems and the dangers." Watcher shrugged lightly. "So a lot of people suffered. They didn't have those luxuries and they knew the world's evil side. But because the majority didn't know about it, nothing was done to stop it." "So in a way Grim is right." Felix said with balls of steel.   
"This is kind of like the world's wake up call to us." He finished. "I mean it's not okay to kill off anyone who can't contribute. That's not right at all. But it is like the world was saying 'hey, look what you've become.'" Zombie nodded. "Was it really that bad?" He asked. "Sometimes. Yeah." Felix tried to sugarcoat. It was always that way. Watcher sighed a little. "You know, I wonder if the world will ever go back to normal," he sighed. "Or if it will just get use to this kind of environment. And we'll just have to adapt." "There's no telling." Burns spoke up from his spot. "I think it'll just keep going this way. The government promised to fix it fifteen years ago. And they still haven't done jack shit." "I don't think there's a government to do anything left." Watcher pointed out.   
"There could be. We don't know what the world is like outside." "Outside of?" "I don't know.. here? This continent?" "It was a national crisis when it came on the news. I think the whole world is suffering." "Well." Felix acted as though he was considering. "We could just be trapped. It could be one of the government's tests." "That could be what started it." Hollywood said. "The older People who survived from before always talk about how the government did a bunch of shady shit, preformed inhuman experiments." "So you're saying that it's the government's fault?" Reno asked. "No. I'm saying it's a possibility," He explained. "There's so many plausible reasons it began," Watcher said.   
"I mean, I've heard almost everything. Chemical spills in the water that infected everyone who drank it. Started in Georgia, spread it's way around the world," "but if that were the case then why don't we all have it?" Zombie asked. "When we die we die. We only turn if we're bit. If it were in the water we would all be infected." "True.. you have a point. What about the government thing? You think that's plausible?" Felix said. "I mean.. I don't know the government. I don't know how they were, and I haven't heard a lot about them, but I think that one sounds more realistic than the water." Felix looked at him. He gave him that look he was so use to.   
The sympathetic one. "I know. I'm a baby. I never got to see it. Don't know a lot about it." He gagged in his words. "But I know now. And that's pretty important." Watcher laughed. "He's smart, see?" Sam stopped the bus in front of a house. It was odd, because this house was in the middle of nowhere. There were no other houses. "What are we doing?" Burns asked. "We need to preserve gas. We'll stop here for a couple days and then pick back up. We can't afford to waste the gas." Burns nodded. "We should go clear it before everyone goes in."   
She, Hollywood, and Felix went in to scope the place out. They came back and gave a clear thumbs up. "We all sleep in the living room together, at least three have to be awake at all times to be on watch." They all went in and set up camp. "I kind of hope Oasis is real." Sam said. "It'd be nice to live like nothing is wrong again." Everyone kind of looked at her. She hadn't put in her two cents the whole time. "I hope a lot of things. And I know they won't happen. The world will never fix itself because it was broken from the start. Even now in our worst state there are people who refuse to help each other and want to kill or hurt everyone. Like the Shepherds. They wanted to kill people. And the man who kidnapped Zombie." She said, curling up on the couch.  
"So we can say we hope it goes back to normal, but what do we really think normal is?" She asked. "If anything, this apocalypse did fix it. It showed us what we really are." Felix looked at her. "Poetic." He joked. She glared at him. "You all were talking nonsense about things going back to normal. So I decided to give you a reality check." She spat. Watcher laughed. "She's a mean one when she wants to be." He said. "But She isn't wrong. I mean, people have always been evil. They mean to hurt others. And then the dead? They don't know what they're doing. They're doing what they need to survive." Watcher stretched out. "There's no evil in surviving. We just think that because they kill us. But we kill us. We kill us for wants. They kill for needs."   
Zombie nodded off and passed out with his head in Watcher's lap. Watcher ran his fingers through his hair. "Maybe Oasis is really what they say it is." He said softly. Sam shrugged. "I mean.. I would hope. But I don't trust it but there's not anything else to strive for, besides surviving." Reno was next to go out.  
   This is how they spent the next couple weeks, moving place to place and wandering what was to come. For some reason, they had that little bit of hope. That little bit of hope that kept them going. They were scavenging another empty town. Again, it wasn't so empty. And again, Zombie was the first to meet the guest. "Zombie, do you want me to come with you so you're not alone?" Watcher asked. Zombie shook his head. He was a child. He wanted to prove his independence. He knew he probably needed Watcher with him. He probably needed everyone with him. But that would slow them down. He was finally getting over the food poisoning, so now he could go out and scavenge.   
    "I'm fine." He said, to everyone's disapproval. He looked at them. "I said I'm fine. I can go by myself. Just like everyone else." Watcher sighed. "Fine. Anything seems off, anything at all," "and I'll radio in." Zombie raised the walkie talkie and smiled. "I don't have to be babied." Sam understood then why he was acting so defiant, but she didn't say anything. He needed to get through it, and if they pestered him about it, it would be harder for him. So she gave everyone the go ahead to spread out. Zombie went off in his own direction, Watcher keeping an eye on him for as long as he could before the boy disappeared into the distance, and then he went off on his own as well.  
    Zombie was jumpy at every little sound and every little corner he turned. Scared he'd run into someone that he shouldn't. He went outside once he was finished with the house, and was instantly confronted with a group of about four strangers. He grabbed for his walkie talkie, but one of them stepped forward with his hands up. He looked kind of horrified and sympathetic, a mix of both, same for the others. "Don't be scared, we won't hurt you... I'm Nick. That's Zeon, Mouth, and Robin." He explained, keeping his hands up. Zombie held the walkie talkie tightly, ready to radio in. He examined each one nervously, not saying anything.   
   Zeon pulled out a bottle of water and offered it to him. "You look sick.. take this, Okay?" He said. "It's just water. Look." He popped the lid open and took a drink himself. Zombie didn't step forward, but he allowed the man to bring it to him. The guy was slow and careful about how he walked, like he was trying not to scare him. "You're just a kid.. are you alone?" He asked, handing the drink to Zombie, who scarfed it down in no time- to the others' surprise. Nick watched his every move, staring at his leg. "I'm not alone." Zombie said, panting after the big drink. "I have a group here, we're not staying." "Where do you come from?" Nick asked. "Texas." Nick shook his head. "Long ways away.. it's been a rough trip, hasn't it?" Zombie nodded hesitantly. "Who are you with." He said, more in a demanding tone. Nick smiled a little. "We're with the Oasis. We're safe, we want to help," he explained, gesturing for Zeon to back away a little. "We are recruiters, we are sent out to find and rescue people out here," Zombie was in shock. "You're kidding me.. right?" He said. "You're from Oasis?"   
    Nick nodded calmly. "Yes. I take it you've heard of us," he said. Zombie radioed in. "Guys, I met some people. You're gonna wanna come to me.. I'm near the bus." He said. Nick smiled a little at his acceptance. "What's your name?" He asked. Zombie looked at him. "I'm Zombie." They all four looked a little surprised. "What a name," he said. "Mind telling me how you got it?" Zombie looked down at his leg. "Well I got bit. Then survived. But I look like a zombie. So." Nick nodded. "That's interesting," He said. Zombie nodded, seeing everyone come running- ready to kill.   
They had all anticipated him being in trouble. Instantly, the Oasis people backed up. "Who the hell are you people?" Sam snarled. Watcher held her back. Nick introduced his people once more, and explained himself. "We are from Oasis. We was sent out to try and recruit people," he said. "Zombie said he already knew about us," he looked at Reno's arm, back at Zombie's leg, then at her. "We have an infirmary. We have doctors, they both need to be checked for infection, Zombie doesn't look good." "No no that's not because my leg I'm just getting over... food poisoning." He said, shivering at the traumatic memories.   
"Yeah, terrible.. terrible food poisoning." Nick raised a brow. "Got should of some bad shit, did you? That's alright, we have a lot of good food. We have the kind of stuff you had before it began, we've got animals that produce good meat and dairy, you know." Zeon explained. Watcher didn't believe it. Hollywood looked at them, his arm around Reno protectively. "And how do we trust that you're who you say you are? And that you're not lying about everything." Robin spoke up. "Well, we don't really have proof right here, but give us a chance and we will prove it." She smiled. "And if you decide at any point in time you don't want to give us that chance then you can leave."  
Sam looked at her. "I've heard that saying too many times. And too many times has it not me in the ass to give that chance." Felix looked at her. "Trust them. I've seen them before." Zeon looked at him. "You're from the Shepherds, aren't you?" He asked. "Not all of us. Just me, I joined them and left the Shepherds a couple weeks ago, actually. So did my brother, but he.. died, tragically." Felix said, glancing at Zombie. Zombie caught his glance and looked at the ground shamefully. He still felt like shit for a lot of the things he did. Sam also caught the glance. "Back off, Felix." "I did t mean anything bad by it!" He yelled, defensively.   
    Nick caught the drift of what happened, though, he couldn't begin to imagine what hell they'd been through. "How long have you been out here on your own?" He asked. "Well we had a safe place. But our guardian told us to come to you a couple months ago." Sam explained. "A couple years," Burns spoke for himself, Hollywood, and Reno. "Not very long." Felix said shamefully. He'd spent forever with the Shepherds. "I see.. so. Do you want to trust us?" Sam sighed. "We trust you." She said. Nick smiled. "You made the right decision," he said softly.   
"What is it like there?" Sam asked. "Exactly how you imagine. It's just like the world was before." He said. "We have animals who produce healthy meat and dairy, its biter free.. electricity, warmth, water-" "you got me sold if you can prove it's real." Sam said sarcastically. "Zombie's never had any of that- Well he had meat.." she started. Zombie gagged. "It wasn't meat. That was dog shit." "Oh! You can have let's in the Oasis, we have all kinds." Zombie furrowed his brows. "What?" "You know.. a pet. When you have a dog or cat or god only knows what as a companion." Zombie thought back to the dogs that they had trapped a while ago. "Those things aren't pets they're vicious!" He yelled.   
Nick just started snickering and trying to hold back a laugh. "No what you know are the wild dogs and cats and shit, they're vicious because they're hungry and aren't well taken care of." Nick explained. "I'll show you what they're like when you take good care of them. Maybe you can have one if you want." Nick shrugged. He thought it was cute that he was so confused, and he knew it'd be even cuter to see how confused he was when they finally get to the Oasis. He putties the boy, though. For the fact that he'd lived a life of suffering for so long.   
"But when we get there you and your friend will both get checked by Jane. She's the best doctor we got, she was a top notch doctor before shit hit the fan." Zombie looked at him as if he had offended him in some way. "Burns is a real doctor." He said. Burns eyes lit up by that. That was the sweetest thing he'd heard in a long time. "That hit me oh my god," he smiled. "Thank you Zombie." He said, Zombie looking at him. "But you are a real doctor," he said. "Don't thank me for the truth." Nick raised his brows but caught on. "Then he'll be happy to join our medical team, wouldn't he?" He offered quietly. "He would."  
    Burns nodded. "So are you coming with us?" Nick asked. Sam looked at the others as if asking if they all agreed, then turned to Nick and his group. "Yes."  
They all gathered up in the two vehicles and began their journey. It would take a lot less time with the things the recruiters had, they wouldn't have to stop for gas or stop for food or water every couple of days. They just went straight forward through it all. Until they met a conflict that they couldn't just manipulate like they could packs of dogs or biters. Gunshots rang out yet again. The bus's wheels screeched and slid, sending the bus into a never ending spin cycle. Same for the Oasis recruiter's hummers. Beaten and bloodied, everyone climbed out of their cars except for Robin. She had went through the windshield and had been crushed by the rolling bus.   
"What the hell!" Zeon screamed, rolling out of the window. "I mean.. what the actual hell!" Nick silenced him. "Quiet! Don't let them hear you.." he stayed low, running to the bus with Zeon to make sure the group survived. They had, but Burns was unconscious and his head had been slammed hard on the roof, leaving a huge gash right under his scalp line, blood drowning his face. "That don't look too good.." Zeon said, assisting Hollywood in pulling him out. Once everyone was out, they all stayed hidden behind the bus while Hollywood tried to tend to Burns's Head injury. "I think he's got a concussion.." He tried to clean the wound gently.   
   "Are we sure we didn't just run over somethin'?" Felix asked. "They crashed after our bus did. They were driving in front. If it was running over something then they'd have wrecked first." Zombie shrugged, staring at his leg. "They were shooting at us first. Then saw the Oasis recruiters." Watcher's voice was low. He was speaking as he realized what that meant. "They were after us." He said, shakily. Sam knew who it was. "We killed Reed. And several of their men, and took one." She looked at Felix. "It's the Shepherds. They're after us now. Not just Reed and a couple of them. They're all after us."   
    Zombie shivered. He thought back on it. "Not us." He argued, still looking at his feet. "Just.. just me." All of the others stopped panicking for a minute to look at him, as if time stopped for a second. Hollywood continued working on Burns, and Reno helped, but everyone else listened to his words. They were poison to Watcher and Sam, they didn't want to hear it. "What's that supposed to mean? They've never just been after you. They've always been after us. As a group. As a family." Watcher silently made his way to be next to him.   
   "Reed was after me because I'm his son. Now they're after me because I killed him. And they're gonna hurt you all to get to me. I can make it easier, I can just sacrifice myself. I'm practically dead anyway." Zombie shook his head and finally looked at Watcher for a second, before his eyes turned to a thousand yard stare as he remembered seeing himself in that mirror, seeing a corpse looking back at him. "Zombie, shut the fuck up." Watcher said sternly. "Just shut up." He shook his head. "Reed wasn't your dad. He didn't raise you. Rudy did. And Rudy died for you. He was your dad." Watcher said, a soothing tone despite his previous anger.   
    "We're family, if they fuck with you they fuck with all of us." Reno joined in quietly, hesitantly looking at Sam like he was afraid she was going to hit him for saying they're family. But to his surprise, she smiled slightly and nodded. Silently he was celebrating in his head. But he didn't let it show. Zombie shook his head a little. "Sorry-" "what did I say? Don't say anything else about it. It's settled." Watcher snapped. Zombie looked at him. He'd never been yelled at by his brother before. He didn't say anything, he just nodded. Watcher sighed, not liking the fact that he had to yell at him. Bang. Another gunshot ripped them from their heart to heart moment, dragging them back to the harsh reality. It hit a rock next to where they all hovered.   
    "I want Cameron." Said the voice of a man who had been beaten and torn over the years. A voice long forgotten by Watcher, long forgotten by Sam. But all too familiar with Felix. It was Grim. "Shit. I thought he'd just send a couple of his followers after us.." he said, drawing his gun. Sam eyed him down. "Don't waste bullets on him," she warned. "What the hell else am I gonna use it for Sam? The biters? We stab them or beat them! We don't shoot." He growled lowly, losing some patience. "He's gonna ruin our only shot at happiness. I don't consider this a waste." Sam gave him a look. It wasn't a warning, but it was unsure.   
    "We need an escape plan." Watcher said. "There is no escape. We can't keep running away." Felix said. "I can hear you, you know. Y'all terrible whisperers." Grim laughed sinisterly. "Felix... you traitor. You had it all with me. You was living the life. A roof over your head, guaranteed safety, not only for you, but for your baby brother." Hearing the last bit hit a nerve. Felix shook his head, holding the gun tightly. "Don't listen to him Felix, he's just trying to get under your skin." Sam warned.   
    "Look what happened when you left, traitor. You got your brother killed. And now you're here, getting yourself killed, and all of these people that you care so much about killed," Grim shot another round into the bus, causing all of them to jump. "Yeah I left you, and maybe if I stayed things would be different. Maybe Trauma would still be alive. But it's not my fault he chose to go back." Felix said, keeping himself from falling into a blind rage. "But you were the one who started this. Reed was like a son to you. He looked up to you like you were his father. You led him down the path he went. You are the reason he was killed."   
    He wasn't trying to antagonize Grim. It wasn't a fucked You way of saying 'hit me!'. He was simply telling him the truth. The truth that Grim didn't want to accept. "Stand up and show your face, traitor." Grim ordered. Felix gulped, not wanting to move. "Or what, you'll kill me?" Is all he could think to say. He mentally scolded himself for it. He wasn't really thinking right. Grim walked around the bus. "I'll kill each of you. Starting with you." He Aimed the gun at Zombie. Felix went pale, staring at the man as time moved in ultra slow motion, watching the man pull the trigger.   
No one had time to react.   
Bang.


	6. Chapter 6

Bang.   
The gunshot rang off. No one having time to react. Bang. They'd heard that very same sound so many times before. They heard it when Zombie's leg was taken. They heard it in many mini wars they'd had. They'd heard that same sound countless times. A sound Watcher, Sam, and Zombie has grown to despise over years of being taught by Rudy that it was a last resort, and only to pull a trigger if there was no other way out, it had always been a sound of death or doom. But something about this gunshot was sickening to everyone.   
   It was strange. Time had stopped itself as the gunshot rang out, as if nothing existed in the world but this little group of seven people. This group, who had been through hell and back together, who had seen the worst of the worst together. They didn't see anything else. Not the various buildings around them, not the concrete road, not Grim standing there aiming the gun at Zombie. He was just a child. He was the youngest. He was the one who'd never had a chance to see the world before. The one who'd only known suffering, never seeing safety. Never seeing life. Only surviving. They were so close to Oasis. They were almost there, where he could experience life. Why would anyone take his life? Out of all of them, why him? How could they?  
   In the static, no one dared to look at Zombie, not even a glance in his direction. They couldn't bear the thoughts of what they would see. They would see this child who was alive not two seconds before, gone limp and lifeless with a sickening wound in the center of his head with a river of thick, crimson liquid running down his face and staining his delicate skin.what brought them back from this haze, from this terrifying moment of silence, was the horrified, blood curdling shrieking of Zombie. His voice. How could that be? He was just shot. Yet, his voice rang out in their ears clear as day. He'd dodged the bullet somehow. But Grim was aimed directly at him. Grim was not the type to give a warning shot, so this had to be a mistake.   
    That's when the other sound filled the atmosphere, finally pulling them back into their full senses. The familiar, ear piercing roar. The call of death itself. Mama's roar. They saw a body underneath her blood stained, burned, tattered coat of fur. They had no idea who it was. Maybe Grim? They were right where Grim was standing at one point, that deadly point. They heard the sounds of flesh and muscle being torn apart and the gurgling screams of whoever it was beneath her, whoever was being burdened with her fury. Hollywood went to hoist up Burns onto his shoulders when the boy simply grabbed onto him and pulled himself to his feet, shaking uncontrollably. "That..that's the bear, that-that's mama.." he stuttered in terror, not knowing how he was supposed to react.   
    Sam and everyone else stood to their feet, hesitating for only a moment. Felix was the quickest one to grab up Zombie in his arms and everyone took off in a dead sprint to any vehicle available. They heard the screams of the other Shepherds, but they seemed like nothing but sounds in the distance, sounds that meant nothing. Nick threw himself in one of the 2010 hummers that the Shepherds had arrived in, it was meant to fit five people but the group managed to fit everyone with sitting in laps. It didn't matter. This was the closest vehicle they had. They didn't care about seating arrangements, just getting away.   
    As Nick slammed the gas, speeding away, everyone began collecting their senses once more. Felix panted. "Shit, Zombie, I am so sorry. I'm sorry." He kept apologizing silently over and over to the boy, who was forced to sit in his lap for the time being. Zombie was stock white. He had already forgotten about the death threat of Grim. This was his first time witnessing Mama. He couldn't think to say anything. He just kept imagining her. Sam looked at him, Burns, and Reno. "You bastards finally saw her!" She yelled, bouncing in her seat. Zeon looked at her. "I like her, she's unique." He said. "Tell me about it." Watcher snickered.   
Reno was pale, too. Hugging himself and leaning on Hollywood. "Holy shit. She's worse than I thought," "you know what's weird?" Watcher said. "She's saved us twice." Burns looked at him, wearily. He was out of it due to the shock of both Mama and the concussion. "What?" He asked, holding his head in his hands. "The first time we saw her she killed a bunch of Reed's friends, this time she prevented Zombie from kicking the bucket, maybe she even killed Grim." "Don't get your hopes up on that." Zeon said. "In that split second one of his followers could have sacrificed themselves for him, never let your guard down."   
Watcher looked at him. "Does he ever attack the Oasis?" He asked. Zeon nodded. "Yeah, but it's just like if the biters were attacking. Easy to manipulate the situation and end it before it begins- when we have all our people. We have an army almost it." He smiled. "Are we just gonna ignore the fact that Mama is fucking real," Zombie mumbled in disbelief. "And that she saved your life," Nick added from his spot in the front. Zombie looked at him through the rear view mirror. "She is scarier than the biters. I think if I was the one standing there and not Grim I'd be getting mauled." "Well if she didn't do what she did," Nick started.   
Felix shook his head, thinking about it. "I thought he killed you, Zombie." He said. "It was my fault you was in that danger at all." "He nicked my ear. That was it," Zombie looked at him. "I got real lucky." He snickered. "He did what now?" Felix went pale again, grabbing Zombie's head and turning it to the side to examine it. Zombie yipped, as everything that just happened left him with a bad headache. His ear had been shot on the lobe, the bottom almost blown completely off. "Oh my god!" Felix screamed. Zombie just side eyed him, having no idea how bad it actually looked. Shock was still kind of strong, so he didn't really feel but a pinch.   
Sam looked angry. "What is it?" "It's bad. It's really fucking bad." Felix was a little panicked. Sam looked at it. "That.. was a really close shot." She said. "He got shot in the fucking ear! It's gone!" Felix was shaking. Sam looked at him. "He also lost his leg and was poisoned. He's seen worse," she was acting like it meant nothing. "And we did just survive a fatal car crash, and a monster bear," Reno added. "But it's a bullet hole.. in his head." Felix looked at them. "Why the hell are you all so okay with this?" "Felix, sweetie, we've all seen worse." "You forget we've been on our own for a while." Burns said drowsily. He was getting worse. "We need to hurry." Hollywood said, trying to stop the bleeding.   
"We're almost there," Zeon said, watching the road as Nick sped up, going as fast as the vehicle would go. "You know, if Mama didn't kill Grim, then he's probably gonna come after us again.." Reno said. "Relax. You're in Oasis now." Nick snickered as he pulled up to the gates to in the giant concrete wall. Zeon ran out and and showed the guards that it was just them returning with their recruits. They pulled in, which was a big moment for the group. This was the big turning point in their life. "This group's pretty interesting. Get them to the infirmary, now, Nick." Zeon ordered, Nick nodding and driving off. The man who opened the gate looked confused. "I don't even get an introduction to them?" "Two amputees, one concussion victim." Zeon said, beginning to run after the hummer. "I think an introduction can wait." The man said, closing the gate.  
    Once in the infirmary, the group had to split ways and go to different doctors. Zombie got Jane, the head doctor, the one Nick was talking about. "How old are you?" She asked, taking care of his ear first. "Fifteen." "And your name?" "Zombie." He was scared shitless. The whole building was lit up brightly with luminescent lights, he heard machines beeping and buzzing. He'd never been in a place like this. She could tell, but had to continue her questions. "How long ago was your leg cut off? Mind if I take a look?" She asked. He looked at her. "Why?" "I need to see how bad it is." She said soothingly. "Can you please take off your jeans?"   
    He thought about the crazy man. "No." He said. Nick had stayed there with him, as he was worried how he'd react to everything. "He's never seen a real doctor. He's never seen anything like this," he explained. "His leg's been off a couple months. Zombie... can you just show her your leg? She's not gonna hurt you. You're never gonna get hurt again. She just has to help you.." he went to his side. Zombie looked up at him. "Promise?" He asked. Nick nodded. "I promise. I'm gonna be here the whole time." Zombie nodded, hesitantly taking his jeans off.   
    He wanted to hit her every second that she looked at him like that. Nick could tell he was uncomfortable and stayed right next to him, not moving, gently taking his hand. Zombie glanced down at their now intertwined fingers, feeling slightly safer, and squeezing Nick's hand tightly. Jane examined the now healed amputation. "Is assuming after the amputation there was severe mishandling, so there's a chance you have stump odemea. That, can cause wound breakdown, pain, and reduced mobility." Zombie stayed silent, a lump forming in his throat. She got a look on her face. "And, on top of that, I can clearly see symptoms of Autonomic Dysfunction." She looked at Zombie. "You're just a child. Have you had any anesthesia? Any Narcotics? Big time pain killers?" She asked.  
    Zombie remembered Burns mentioning it, but he remembered that they didn't have any. "Ibuprofen and Tylenol.." he said, under his breath. Amazingly, she understood what he said. "Oh, your poor thing.." she said, empathetically. "For so many months.." she wandered around the room gathering what she needed. "Now, tell me your medical history, have you had any vaccinations?" Zombie shook his head. "You gotta ask my brother. I don't.. I don't know." "Nick can you go get his brother for me?" Jane asked. Nick instantly shook his head. "I can't leave." Jane gave him a look. "I need to know this so I can treat him. It's his life or his comfort, Nicholas." Nick looked down at Zombie, releasing his hand. "I don't have to leave." He pokes his head out the door. "Zeon! Can you please get Watcher in here? If he's available?" He asked.   
    Zeon nodded and ran off to fetch him, and Nick went back to holding Zombie's hand. "Zeon's gonna bring him." Zombie wanted to get his jeans back on, to cover up his body, his deformity, his weakness. But when he tried, Jane stopped him. "You still have a high fever and your vitals are terrible. Are you sick now? Do you know? How do you feel?" She asked. "I don't know." Watcher entered the room quickly. "He's had just about everything. The week before he lost his leg he had the flu, actually. He's been suffering the aftermath of severe food poisoning, he's had absolutely no vaccinations or medications other than... Tylenol, Advil, Ibuprofen, over the counter stuff we find on our outings."   
    Jane looked at him. "Really, now? Tell me more about his medical history, please." "Well.. this part is kind of weird. We always took it as luck or something. But you know how when you get sick with something you can get it again a couple months later?" Jane nodded. "Once he gets something he never gets it again. At all. But to new diseases he's extremely prone to getting them." Jane's eyebrows both raised. "Excuse me? He may have something wrong with his immune system. We should run a few tests."   
    Days and days of being poked and prodded and tests. He hated it, being trapped in a little room. Reno came and stayed with him. "They're gonna give you some great medicine for your leg, they gave it for my arm," he said. "And they might be able to get us prosthetics because they don't have a lot of amputees, and they had them just in case," Reno kept as enthusiastic as possible. Zombie looked miserable. "I don't want to be here anymore. Not in this place. They always hurt me." He showed the bruises on his arms. Reno got a sympathetic look. "I know.. I'm sorry. They're just trying to figure things out with you." Zombie looked up at him. "What is there to figure out?"   
   Reno shrugged. "They aren't telling us anything. They did tell us that they found out you have a dysfunction in your immune system that makes it much stronger than most people's, but also much more prone to new things. That's why you get sick so easily but then never catch it again." Zombie sat up, trying to pull his IV out. "Why does everyone else get to go and I have to stay here? You're allowed to leave, Burns and Sam and Watcher and Hollywood! And Felix! We was all out there together! They already know why my immune system is weird so why do I have to stay?" Reno stopped him, gently pushing him back down to lay back. "Rest. I'm sure they've got some good reason."   
    Watcher came in next, with Sam. "How's it going?" He asked, seeing how frustrated and hurt Zombie looked. "What's wrong?" "He wants to leave and come home with us." Zombie looked at Reno. Home? He never mentioned anything about a home. Watcher sat at the door of his bed. "They're trying to hurry. I think she mentioned something about your blood with the other doctors. I wasn't close enough to hear the rest." He shrugged lightly as Jane walked in, a smile on her face wider than any other. She held a clipboard to her chest, laying it on her desk. "Well, Zombie," She said. "You never needed vaccinations because you are one."   
   Watcher looked up at her. "Excuse me?" She sat in her swivel chair. "Well, we've been studying biters that we captured and studied what was going on, what made them the way they are. It's a neurological disease that travels through bodily fluids, which explains why you get it only when you're bit. It shuts the brain and organs down so that the person dies, but then reactivates part of the brain." Watcher looked at her. "Good to know," he started. "But What does that have to do with him?" "Well, there are factors in his blood that kill the disease. We took a few samples and tested them, they ate away the cells of the disease itself. It won't be enough to cure the infected but it can save what's left of the human race."  
Watcher's mind went blank along with Sam and Reno's, Zombie's mind however, was racing. Jane knew this. "Would you be willing to donate about a pint of your blood every couple of months to let us create a vaccination for our people?" She asked, still smiling. Zombie was still out of it. He was the cure. He could save humanity, and just a couple of days ago he almost died. "How? Why me?" He asked, more like he was talking to himself than Jane. "We really don't know that, Zombie. We tested your family's blood and none of them contain the factor."  
Watcher looked at Zombie, blankly. He was with him from birth. He watched him grow, he trained him. He's always protected him, always been with him. "I'll donate.." Zombie said quietly, thinking. "I almost died. I almost died a couple days ago. I've spent my life putting myself in danger. I should be dead. But now I'm a cure." He was bewildered. Jane smiled softly. "Thank you, Zombie. Just a couple more needles and we'll be done, then. And you can see your new home." She got up and prepared the equipment. He watched. He'd formed a fear of needles of the past few days and despised himself for it- he had lived through hell and was scared of a tiny needle.   
She set it up and stabbed it into his arm, which he fought himself to not fight against. "Hear that, Zombie? You're gonna save the world." Sam laughed. "I'm jealous." She was trying to lighten the mood. Zombie snickered a little. The first positive emotion he's shown towards anything in a long time. Nick came in to check on him, seeing everything. "What's going on?" He asked. "I'm gonna save the world, Nick." Zombie said, a little more hope and joy in his voice. Nick didn't doubt him for a second. He let Jane explain to him what was going on, but he never doubted it for a moment.   
When Zombie was released from the infirmary, Nick wanted to be the one to show him around. He thought seeing his simple confusions was adorable, he couldn't wait to see him entering a whole new world. "We have electricity, you can see from the hospital, but we have water too. Have you ever had a bath?" "In rivers and things," Zombie said. "Well this is much better than a river," Nick took him to the house that he, Sam, and Watcher would be living together. He showed him around, and then showed him the bathroom, where he turned on the bath. Zombie looked amazed. "It's a controllable waterfall!" He stick his hands in it. "Holy shit!" Nick laughed.  
He admired Zombie for a minute, admiring his innocence, admiring how happy he was. Then it hit him that he'd never seen him smile before. Never seen him laugh. "Your smile looks good. You should keep it," Nick's face burned a light red shyly. Zombie looked up at him, showing off another smile. "Thank you," he giggled. "What else is there?" "Meat." Zombie looked crushed. "What?" "The good kind, don't worry, it won't make you sick. And it won't taste like shit."


End file.
